8/18/06
Communities should look at Burnsville-Eagan-Savage health care model
Health care for youngsters who canít afford it and have no health insurance is a need that is being addressed in Dakota County, thanks to an amazing joint community effort.
A free clinic for children birth through high school in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District will open Aug. 17.
This model deserves to be repeated in school districts throughout the area. The Park Nicollet Foundation and Park Nicollet Health Services also operates free clinics in St. Louis Park and Wayzata, where more than 60 percent of the young users do not have health insurance.
The clinic in Burnsville is a joint project of the Park Nicollet Foundation, the school district, the Community Action Council and Dakota Public Health.
The school district is providing the clinic, which is in the lower level of the Diamond Head Educational Center. The foundation is funding the operations, while Park Nicollet Clinic is providing the care. The clinic has been remodeled with donated labor and materials.
This month the clinic will accept walk-in visits Tuesdays and Thursdays, centering on school and sports physicals and immunizations.
Additional services will include preventive health visits, athletic physicals and health education, diagnosis and treatment of common, acute and or minor medical conditions, referral to other health services for problems requiring further testing, consultation or care and primary care evaluation and treatment for mental health needs.
Everyone realizes the need for the free clinic, since 21 percent of students qualify for free and reduced price lunches.
The genius in putting a free clinic together is the grassroots involvement of many groups, led by school nurses and clinic staff. In the case of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, school nurses stirred interest by referring students needing health care to the neighboring clinic, which treated them without charge.
From that, talks involving school, city, county, business, police, social services and clergy, began. These discussions were key because they involved the leadership on a common problem, leading to the free clinic, a process that took six years.
In St. Louis Park, the impetus came from the desire to build an important community asset ñ healthy kids --, as dictated by research by the Search Institute. The clinic there is providing free health care to 700 students a year.
Park Nicollet Foundation is committed to improving health care where Park Nicollet Health Services has clinics. Other Health Services would have to step up in different communities.
Three communities have shown free health care clinics are possible as the state looks for answers to health care. Those interested in this model are invited to call Dr. Chris Johnson at 052-993-6335. -- Don Heinzman
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