Lift for Life Academy in St. Louis became the latest school in the St. Louis area to celebrate opening a school health clinic. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday, November 13 with representatives from the school and from Affinia Healthcare.
The new clinic has two medical exam rooms and a behavioral health suite. It will be staffed by a nurse practitioner, a licensed clinical social worker, and one or two medical assistants. Dental exams will be provided by a mobile unit.
Students will not be turned away due to an inability to pay for medical service. The clinic will also accept private insurance and Medicaid. Initially, it will operate on Wednesdays.
“Having a school-based health center on our campus will provide a much-needed medical service for our students,” said Marshall Cohen, executive director and co-founder of Lift for Life Academy. “It’s often difficult for working parents to leave work and address their child’s immediate medical needs. This will offer convenient and responsive support to parents and students.”
In addition to improving student attendance for academic achievement, the new school-based health center will increase student access to primary medical and behavioral health care and help students to improve their health and wellness.
For youth who need it, Alan Freeman, president and CEO of Affinia Healthcare, said the clinic will serve as a primary and behavioral health care home. “Convenient, affordable and timely care is essential to improving health outcomes among our patients,” Freeman said.
School-based health centers are increasingly an important method of health care delivery for youth and their families who experience financial, cultural, and transportation barriers. Medical clinics in schools create an environment of service coordination and collaboration that addresses the health needs and well-being of youth with health disparities or poor access to health care services.
Lift For Life Academy opened in 2000 as the first independent charter school in the city of St. Louis, and it serves approximately 600 students in grades 6-12 from throughout the city. Southeast Missouri State University holds its charter.
In addition to its community health clinics, Affinia Healthcare opened its first school-based clinic at Normandy High School in 2017, and plans to open its third school-based clinic in the coming weeks at Confluence Aspire Academy in St. Louis.
