ADRIEN — Primary care, preventative care and health and needs assessments could be available directly in the corridors of the Springbrook Middle School to Adrian by next year.
For the second time among its 2023 meetings, the Adrian Public Schools Board of Education heard a presentation regarding the potential addition of a Child and Adolescent Health Center (CAHC) in Springbrook that would be operated and leased by Michigan Family Medical Center.
The board was first contacted about this venture at its May 22 meeting, which was appropriately held at Springbrook Middle School in the media center. The most recent update from the CAHC was provided to the school board at its Nov. 13 meeting.
Travis Swieringa, vice president of behavioral health services at Family Medical Center of Michigan, served as the school’s point of contact during the discussions. He appeared before the board at every meeting, with the Nov. 13 meeting taking place at Adrian High School.
The purpose of a CAHC is to provide primary care, preventive care, health and needs assessments, screenings, medications, immunizations, health education, mental health care, and individual/patient therapy. group/family.
Adrian’s board of directors was tasked with reviewing the Family Medical Center lease agreement at last week’s meeting. A decision on the lease will be made by the school board at its next meeting scheduled for Monday, November 27.
If approved by the board, the Family Medical Center of Michigan, which already works with Springbrook Middle School providing behavioral health care, would expand into a physical office space with more health care services. health primarily available to Adrian public school students.
The Family Medical Center of Michigan has coordinated behavioral health care services in schools since 2015, Swieringa said. FMC is now involved in at least 60 schools in Lenawee, Monroe and Wayne counties.
FMC has a clinic in Adrian at 1200 N. Main St. It also has a clinic in Hudson at the Southern Michigan Center for Science and Industry (SMCSI), 550 E. Main St. At SMCSI, FMC offers behavioral health services in Hudson . Schools in the area, the city of Hudson and surrounding communities. These behavioral health services include counseling for all ages, mental health and substance use screenings and assessments, and treatment for individuals, couples, and families.
According to information Swieringa provided to the school board, Family Medical Center also aims to add a CAHC to Hudson Schools and Carelton Airport Community Schools. These expansion opportunities, he said, became available through grants for such projects through remaining COVID-19 funds from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
“The health center will provide primary medical care, behavioral health care and then we hope to eventually add dental care,” Swieringa said. “It’s right on school grounds and during school days.”
One room that was solidified to serve as the location of FMC’s Springbrook Health Center is a former choir room now used as storage, Room D134.
Potential locations to house the health center were determined based on proximity to exterior access, plumbing and other factors of the school building, said Nate Parker, superintendent of Adrian Public Schools.
“Essentially, we have the ability to get health services to some of our students who are lacking and not getting those services,” Parker said at the May 22 board meeting. “We will be able to provide (these services) right here during the school day. »
Research, Swieringa said, has demonstrated that having these services available on-site in schools helps academically and with student absenteeism. Mainly, the positive results of having these medical centers on campus are due to the fact that parents do not need to take time off from work. The health center is easily accessible.
“Accessibility is really the big issue,” he said. “Parents don’t need to take time off work for their students, and students don’t need to take time off school to get picked up and go somewhere to make an appointment.”
When a counselor or therapist is in a school, those services are there and accessible, he said. The addition of a CAHC is not intended to replace a school nurse, but to provide complementary and coordinated services between the two.
“Even though we have a clinic about a mile from our house, some children cannot access it,” he said.
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Two exam rooms, two behavioral health rooms, a reception area and a bathroom are part of the proposed construction plans for the health center, which will be staffed year-round, after school hours and during summer. Primary care and behavioral care staff will be on site at least 24 hours a day, Swieringa said, which is a projection for now. This number could increase or decrease depending on need.
Kreighhoff-Lenawee Co. submitted bids for construction of the health center. The overall costs of the reconstruction would be nearly $300,000 to equip the school. The grants will support the project, Swieringa said. There is no cost to the district for the project and there is no cost to operate the health center.
Emergency medications will be available on site, but the health center is not designed to look like a pharmacy, Swieringa said. For students to benefit from any form of care, parental consent is required.
APS’ legal counsel, Thrun Law Firm, has reviewed the lease agreement, it was reported at the Nov. 13 board meeting.
— Contact journalist Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.
