Staff, parents and students of the Clarke County School District living on the east side have had access to a health center at Hilsman Middle School since 2019. A new pilot program for a similar clinic at Clarke Middle School will expand the district’s scope.
“The Hilsman Health Center has served as a wonderful resource for students and staff on the east side, and we believe that opening a second clinic, more convenient to central and west-side schools, will further increase access for more students,” says Amy Roark, Clarke County School District’s director of nursing, in a press release.
Through a $94,000 investment from Augusta University and the University of Georgia’s Medical Partnership, the clinic will open in a temporary location this fall for nine months for Clarke Middle and Alps Road Elementary School. A permanent location is estimated to open in 2024.
The pilot program will offer preventive and chronic healthcare, as well as mental health counseling and referral services, free of charge. The west side clinic will change to a free-to-sliding scale model once its officially open.
CCSD’s mobile vaccination and testing clinics are part of its collaboration with the Medical Partnership as well. More than 1,650 school district students, staff, guardians and employees have received COVID vaccines through those efforts, according to a press release.
“Having these services available on our school campuses increases the amount of time that students spend in class learning and reduces the amount of time that parents and staff have to miss work,” Roark says. “We are grateful for our community partners who assist us on our path to increasing student success.”
