Committed to the health and well-being of its students, Natomas Unified School District has opened a campus health clinic to serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade, initially providing only vaccinations.
The B. Teri Burns Health Clinic, located near the Natomas High School tennis courts, is named after a district trustee who has served three decades on the Board and has pushed hard through the years to expand health-care services and health insurance coverage to local families.
The clinic began helping students this week, with free vaccinations offered through a nonprofit program, Vaccines for Children, which serves youth 18 or under who are Medi-Cal eligible, uninsured, underinsured, or are American Indian or Alaska natives.
The clinic will be available on a limited schedule initially. It will not reopen to the public until next week, Wednesday, Feb. 11, when it will offer vaccines from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. A complete list of student-required vaccines is available at http://www.shotsforschool.org/laws/.
Over time, NUSD officials hope to expand both the clinic’s hours of operation and the services it provides. The clinic initially will be staffed by a district nurse, but officials envision it eventually providing services ranging from physical checkups to treating illnesses.
Burns said the community will benefit from having health-care professionals located on a high school campus, near K-12 students it serves, checking to make sure kids can hear their teacher and see well enough to read classroom whiteboards.
“We all know that healthy kids learn better,” she said.
The Dedication Ceremony and Ribbon Cutting is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27. The ceremony will begin in the multipurpose room.
