Wilkinson County Schools unveil a campus clinic offering checkups, behavioral health and more, with appointments starting March 23 for students, staff and families.
IRWINTON, Ga. — Students and families in the Wilkinson County School District will soon have easier access to healthcare without leaving campus.
District leaders have opened the Warrior Wellness Center, a new school-based health clinic designed to break down barriers to care in this rural community. The center is located on the same campus as Wilkinson County Elementary School and will begin seeing patients Monday, March 23.
Superintendent Angela James said the opening is the culmination of months of work.
“It’s so exciting,” James said. “We started this process last fall when we received a million dollars grant from the Georgia Department of Education, for which we’re so grateful. It’s been a journey in getting everything put in place. We finally arrived. We had great support.”
The modular facility may look small from the outside, but inside it functions as a full medical office. It includes three exam rooms, a behavioral health consultation room and a medical lab.
Community Healthcare Systems will operate the clinic, providing services to students, district staff and family members who live in the same household as a student.
District leaders say the goal goes beyond treating students who get sick during the school day. James said the clinic could also reduce absences when students feel ill at school.
“They get sick at school and then a parent has to come pick them up so we’re certain that this will help us improve our attendance outcomes,” she said.
The district partnered with Community Healthcare Systems to staff and provide care in the clinic. Community Healthcare Systems CEO Carla Belcher said the clinic will offer a range of services, including primary care and behavioral health.
“We have a medical assistant. We’ll have a front desk person, and we will have a nurse practitioner here at all times,” Belcher said. “We also offer behavioral health services, and we have linkages to other services throughout community healthcare systems that they’ll be able to tap into as well,”
Belcher added that parents who cannot attend appointments in person can still participate virtually.
“If they’re not here and their child comes in for an appointment, they’ll be able to link in with a closed circuit system where they can actually be here with their child. So they can engage in the whole process,” she said.
The wellness center will be open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to the district’s website. Officials say most insurance plans will be accepted, and financial assistance options will be available for uninsured or underinsured families.
