Need to get your sports physical done?

No need to worry, at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, KHS began to host a health clinic run by the University of Michigan Health System and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The clinic is located in Room 603 and allows for students to avoid missing school by offering medical help and advice to students during the school day.

Because of this, students don’t necessarily have to leave the campus in order to visit their family physicians — other than for their regular checkups, of course.

Mrs. Amy Graham, health teacher, thinks the clinic will assist in both the health and the attendance of students.

“This should be a great thing for the health of our students,” Graham said. “I believe its intent is to be able to keep students in school more, which is a good thing.”

Senior Gabby Ropp also believes the health clinic will improve attendance.

“It cuts down on attendance problems,” Ropp said. “When people don’t feel good they usually just go home.”

Ropp said if students are not feeling well, they can go to the clinic “to help them feel better.”

The Michigan Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools has five locations in the area. Besides Kearsley, there are clinics at Richfield Public School Academy, Northwestern, Beecher, and Carman-Ainsworth.

All locations will have a wide range of help for students including nurse practitioners, a social worker, a medical assistant, and a care coordinator. In addition, a medical doctor visits once a month.

The best thing about the health clinics is they are open to all people 21 and under in their areas.

But before a typical visits for immunizations, physicals, or physical exams, the parent of a patient must give consent.

However, students 12 and up may come in for confidential visits for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy testing.  In addition, students who are 14 and older may receive limited confidential mental health services as well as substance abuse counseling.

Nurse Practioner Andrea Rossi, the health center supervisor for the clinic, knows the benefits of having clinics like these in schools.

“The attendance and school performance (of students) improve,” Rossi said.

You can set up an appointment at the clinic by calling the clinic at (810) 591-5330 or by walking into the clinic itself. They ask that you show up 10-15 minutes early for your appointment to complete any paperwork that may be necessary.

If a student or child wants to be treated by the clinic, he or she must have a consent-for-service document, health-history document, and parent questionnaire completed to turn in to the clinic.

Rossi also said that the clinics in the area help families to have access to health care.

The clinic will bill a patient’s insurance provider, but there are no out-of-pocket costs since the clinic is grant-funded.