Partnership With WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital Could Bring Health Clinic to Madison Elementary
Joselyn King WHEELING -- Ohio County Schools and WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital are partnering on a plan to bring a health care clinic to Madison Elementary School.
Madison Elementary already is home to a dental clinic, and providing medical services there is a good beginning to extending services and providing healthcare needs throughout Ohio County Schools, explained Superintendent Kim Miller.
She spoke of the plan during this week's meeting of the Ohio County Board of Education.
Miller recently approached WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital CEO Douglass Harrison with the idea of the hospital providing medical services through a clinic at Madison Elementary, and she indicated he was immediately receptive to the idea.
"We think this will help keep our children in school," she said. "If a child has a sore throat, we will be able to do tests on site with parental permission. And we will see how we can grow that program -- maybe right up to our faculty so our faculty doesn't have to miss work.
"We're just looking for an opportunity to place this medical-based clinic at Madison Elementary as a start and grow the program so we can meet the needs of all the children in an inclusive setting."
Billing for care at the clinic would be through WVU Medicine. Students and staff from other buildings within Ohio County Schools could be brought to Madison Elementary at the start, according to Miller.
Harrison said the partnership for the school health clinic "won't be reinventing the wheel."
WVU Medicine already operates school-based clinics in Keyser, West Virginia and in Maryland.
Harrison added that the Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, a member of the hospital board, also would like to see them in Catholic schools throughout West Virginia.
What is most treated at these clinics are symptoms of fever and rashes, he said. The clinics also offer pediatric vaccinations. Flu shots are being made available, and there are efforts to expand care to adult faculty members at the schools, according to Harrison.
Harrison has provided Miller with a proposed memorandum of understanding for the partnership between Ohio County Schools and WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital that is under consideration by board of education members.
After it is approved by the board, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital then would have to file a certificate of need with the state to gain approval for the clinic, he explained
There will also have to be "some minor renovations" at Madison School to accommodate the clinic, Harrison added.
He said the hospital plans to launch the EPIC electronic records system at the clinic, meaning that all medical care provided there would be recorded and available to the patient through the MyChart app.
Harrison noted many of the children and even some of the adults at the school often don't have an established relationship with a doctor, and the clinic would get these patients "into the system" of seeking healthcare.
Board member Molly Aderholt asked if parents would need to be present when their child is treated at the school.
"They don't need to be, but they can be if they want to be," Harrison answered. Parents will be asked to sign waivers to allow their children to be treated in the clinic.
The health professional providing the care at the clinic would typically be a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant under the guidance of a physician, he continued.
"They're not going to act fully independently. They are under that collaborative agreement with a physician," Harrison said.
To start, the clinic would be staffed a couple half-days each week.
"Hopefully, the demand is there, and we will be prepared to ramp that up as needed," Harrison said. "But we have to see what the response is going to be.
"It will be run just like one of our outpatient clinics."
Board member David Croft asked if the medical staff will be able to write prescriptions.
Harrison replied that they will not be permitted to prescribe narcotics, but the nurse practitioner can write scripts for other needs.