PORTLAND, Tenn. (WTVF) — A health clinic is coming to a Portland elementary school, offering care to students and community members including uninsured patients who could receive free services.
The clinic will be located inside an unused area of J.W. Wiseman Elementary School. Students from other schools in the area, including Clyde Riggs Elementary, would also be able to use the facility. Community members who do not attend or have children at the school would be eligible for care as well.
To address safety concerns, the clinic will have a separate, dedicated entrance with no access to the school itself.
Kim Green, whose grandson attends Clyde Riggs Elementary, said she supports the concept.
"I think it's good that they have a site where a kid can be seen and treated right there," Green said.
Summer Wims homeschools her two children but said she would consider using the clinic.
Not everyone has embraced the plan. Discussions on community Facebook pages include questions about why a privately run clinic would operate inside a public school particularly given that a separate clinic run by a private company is located directly across the street.
Some community members also raised concerns about public access to the facility.
"I think the biggest complaint that I saw was that since it was open to the public as anyone could go into this health clinic that they didn't want someone to slip through," Wims said.
Under the agreement between the clinic and the school district, every dollar of care provided to uninsured patients counts toward the clinic's rent. If the clinic treats enough uninsured patients, the school board collects no rent but the arrangement covers free healthcare for Portland's most vulnerable children.
"The parent wouldn't have to miss work like I could, I could see that not being terrible," Wims said.
A nurse practitioner will handle both walk-in visits and scheduled appointments and would be available to travel to other schools as needed.
Sumner County Schools said the clinic is set to open before the next school year.
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