School health clinics subject of grant award

Communities in Schools has received a $50,000 grant from the Gates Foundation to research opening a school-based health clinic. “There are 1,700 school-based health clinics across the country, and we are one of the largest metro areas that does not have one,” said Ben Stuckart, director of the business-supported nonprofit with a mission of a helping school children stay in school. A clinic could fill a gap caused by a decrease in school nurses and an increased need for health care in schools. The grant will help with researching other school-based health clinic models, determining the best way to implement a clinic, how it would be staffed and sustaining it financially. The goal is to open at least one by the fall of 2011, Stuckart said.