Elementary school gets new clinic

By Kathy Reding
Staff Writer

Seven-year-old Danielle McKinney, a second grader at Johnson Elementary School, sits in her school's new Johnson Healthy Kids Center. Center manager and school nurse Pat Dimon takes McKinney's temperature and checks her height and weight. Dr. Thomas Young, the center's medical director, prepares to examine another student's ears, eyes and heartbeat.

The Johnson Healthy Kids Center held its official opening yesterday. The center is a school-based medical clinic providing free health care for Johnson's 270 students, the majority of which come from low income families.

The center, developed through community agencies, is financially sponsored by the UK Children's Hospital and Central Baptist Hospital.

The Lexington Fayette County Health Department manages the clinic with the UK Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Dentistry, Fayette County Public Schools and other health care providers.

The clinic will provide immunizations, immediate sick care, metal health counseling, physical examinations, dental screenings, treatment and health education.

Pat Michaux, Johnson principal, said the center is necessary at Johnson since many of the students do not have access to proper health care. Michaux said students who do not have adequate medical care are not able to do as well in school.

"We have to take responsibility for these children and part of that is keeping them healthy," Michaux said.

Young said the community involvement in running the center shows that " it takes a village to raise a child."

"Poverty is associated with poor health and poor health access," Young said. "We should expect excellence from each student but we have to level the playing field the best we can."

The center operates during regular school hours. Parents sign a consent to authorize care for their children. Eventually the center hopes to treat the siblings of Johnson students.

Dimon said the center is an effective service since many students come in with problems such as ear infections and sore throats, illness previously requiring parents to take them to a doctor's office. Now they can be cared for by the school clinic's medical staff.

"It's hard for some of these parents to call and make appointments for their children and many of them don't have cars," Dimon said.

The center is modeled after one incorporated last year at Harrison Elementary School, where 99 percent of the 220 students have now used the clinic for health care.

"We're not here to only justify a healthy outcome, but an educational outcome as well," Young said. "(The center) takes away barriers to learning."