SIU Med School and Franklin County High Schools to Use Mobile

Medical Clinic

A mobile school health clinic will begin serving students at two Franklin County high schools this fall, thanks to a $375,000 grant from the Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF). The project has been organized by Dr. Penny Tippy, professor of family and community medicine and director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, based in Carbondale.

The mobile clinic will serve students at West Frankfort and Benton high schools, which have a combined enrollment of approximately 1,200. It will provide primary care, minor injuries treatment, school/sports physicals, immunizations, wellness and mental health counseling.

"Providing Illinois children with access to high quality health care is one of the most important needs Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation addresses. Working with partners like SIU School of Medicine, we plan on making a real impact in the health of our state's children, in Franklin County as well as the rest of Illinois," said Susan Kerr, ILCHF President.

Services will be provided by a team of SIU medical school staff who will rotate -- a physician's assistant, nurse, social worker and resident physician, who will be supervised by SIU family medicine physicians. Parental permission for treatment will be requested for each student at the beginning of each school year.

As students are seen at the mobile clinic, referrals for severe injuries, chronic illnesses, birth control or prenatal care will be made to community physicians. Family physicians will be notified of services when a patient asks that information be shared. Services will be on a sliding scale and billed to insurance plans and the usual financial assistance programs.

"This project gives us immediate access to health care, which is a tremendous need for us since so many of students are not able to get medical treatment in a timely fashion," said Kelly Stewart, superintendent of the Benton High School District. "It does take a village to raise a child. We can't provide everything so we appreciate partnering with SIU, since they have the expertise to reach out to the community as well as the commitment."

The mobile clinic will be purchased in the next few months so that it can be delivered this summer. It is expected to be 36-feet long and equipped with two exam rooms, a small laboratory and wireless Internet connection. The exterior design will come from art classes at the two high schools. It will be parked in each school parking lot for 2 ½ days.

"Franklin County, like the rest of the country, is struggling because of unemployment, poverty, inadequate access to health care, and a limited tax base for schools, social services and welfare programs," says George Hopkins, superintendent of the West Frankfort Schools. "Health is one of the important life skills we teach students and we can only do so much, so having this mobile clinic from SIU will help us address both health needs and wellness."

Tippy says the mobile clinic program will help determine if medical and mental health care as well as wellness education can be delivered effectively in this way. "We appreciate the foresight of the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation in awarding this grant. If this pilot goes well, the model could be adapted in other places in the state and even more children would have ready access to comprehensive, on-going medical treatment."

This is the first year for ILCHF grants, designed to improve the health of children around the state. The Foundation's first 32 grants totaled nearly $6 million.

On a personal level, Tippy says this mobile clinic has always been a dream of hers. "I'm from the area and my kids went to these schools. I learned from my dad, who was superintendent of West Frankfort schools for 52 years, that you give back to the community," she says. "SIU's family practice residency program has been doing various community projects for many years and this was a major way to build on that."

Since January 2001, SIU also has provided adolescent health services one evening a week at Miners Memorial Health Center, with a grant from the Center for Rural Health at the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). More than 500 teens from Franklin, Williamson, Perry, Jackson and Jefferson counties have received primary care and mental health services in its three years of existence. IDPH's Office of Women's Health has funded a Heart Smart program for SIU, educating eighth grade girls in West Frankfort and Benton on risk factors of cardiovascular disease, healthy eating and exercise.

Various agencies have partnered with SIU's Family Medicine Residency Program on its projects -- Franklin Williamson Human Services and Bi-County Health Department, Illinois Lt. Governor's Office, Illinois Department of Human Services - School Health Division, Southern Illinois Healthcare, the School of Medicine's Rural Health Initiative, SIUC Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development, and University of Illinois Extension.

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