Besides teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, the Cass City School District will also address health needs of youths.
The district was among the 26 schools that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services awarded $2.4 million in funding to develop a health-service program.
The program will be available to any student in the district between the ages of 5 and 26 years old.
The district will receive about $180,000 annually in implementation of the clinic.
The funds were to start the process to offer health services with an on-site clinic at schools.
District’s Superintendent Allison Zimba and school nurse Kathy LaPonsie collaborated with Hills and Dales Healthcare, and Thumb Psychological to look for ways to have a health care office within the school.
“Currently, we are planning on utilizing a room at the elementary school; however, if we are to receive additional grant funding we could look to potentially add a small modular building,” explained Zimba.
“The clinic has to be somewhat operational by early 2024 to meet the grant requirements,” she said.
The grant was awarded to help the district with the planning, developing procedures to implement health services.
“That funding is operational to run the clinic itself,” she said. “We are looking to apply for a construction grant for the clinic itself.”
To go along with the funding, a consultant was provided to help the district with the development process and to help make sure the state’s criteria is met.
The focus of the health-care program is to remove barriers so schools can offer health care services to district students who do not have access to health care.
Some of the health care services the program will provide are wellness checks, immunizations, and more.
Cass City was the only school in the Thumb to successfully write a grant for the health program.
The funding for the health program is part of the $25 million investment made by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year to expand Child and Adolescent Health Centers to additional sites across the state.
Cass City Schools setting up health clinic
