NUSD partners with community clinic: physician services coming to B. Teri Burns Health Clinic

--- Published on October 14th 2016 ---
FILED UNDER:
News & Alerts

For Natomas Unified, it’s a longtime dream come true: Provide the community with a health clinic staffed by a doctor, offering a variety of medical services, and willing to mentor students who are interested in health-care careers.

 “Without question, it’s taking that dream and making it real,” said Carol Williams, an Executive Director in School Leadership and Support. “It’s amazing.”

NUSD’s Board of Trustees recently approved a contract with a local health-care group, Health and Life Organization (HALO), to provide community care and student training in the District’s existing B. Teri Burns Health Clinic at Natomas High School.

Opened more than a year ago by NUSD, the B. Teri Burns Health Clinic has been confined largely to issuing state-required vaccinations and health-related classes. Those services will continue with this partnership.

Physician services at the clinic are expected to begin next spring, assisting NUSD students and the community with medical needs ranging from checkups to preventative services to  treatment of injury or illness. HALO currently operates five Sacramento health clinics.

“We’re very excited about helping more people maintain a good quality of life and health,” said Dr. Miguel Suarez, HALO’s clinic director and development director.  Fees at the B. Teri Burns clinic will be assessed on a sliding scale, based on income and household size.

Since healthy kids make better learners, Deputy Superintendent William Young said the clinic partnership is “another avenue to provide support services to our families. Being healthy can lead to increased academic achievement.”

The partnership also is consistent with NUSD’s push for college and career readiness.

Students from Natomas High’s Health Care Pathway could receive basic training and explore potential careers at the B. Teri Burns facility – for example, students enrolled in a newly launched class preparing them to become paramedics could obtain required clinical experience without ever leaving campus.

 “As we work further on the health pathway, to broaden it, potentially we’ll be looking at everything from phlebotomy to health billing,” said AJ Giersch, a director in NUSD’s School Leadership and Support.

“Hopefully, students will be motivated to commit to a career in health care — maybe it will give reason and purpose to their academics, so we’re excited about partnering,” Dr. Suarez said. “I think it’s a great way to creative incentive for students to have early exposure to these career paths.”

The newly approved partnership calls for NUSD to provide and maintain the clinic facility, while HALO provides staffing, insurance, and runs the medical program. Eventually, NUSD and HALO plan to build a new clinic on District-owned property across the street from Natomas High.

As the health clinic grows, so might its services. Ideally, Suarez said, Natomas residents will be offered a wide range of options in the future, including dentistry, psychiatry, behavioral care, dermatology, hepatology, and internal medicine.

By retaining the B. Teri Burns name, the community clinic will continue to honor NUSD’s current Board of Trustees president, who has served on the District’s governing board for three decades and began pushing for a health clinic at Natomas High in the early 1990s.