“Watching this space grow into a trusted, welcoming place for students and community members to get the care they need has been wonderful,” said Springfield SBHC Coordinator Anita Biles. “I’m proud of what we have built here, and I am excited to see how the health center continues to serve our students moving forward.”
The health clinic, which is a partnership with the Rocking Horse Community Health Center, opened in August 2024.
Over the past year, the health center has had more than 4,000 appointments, according to Jenna Leinasars, communications specialist for Springfield schools. From August 2024 to April, there were more than 2,000 appointments.
From May to August, there were 1,458 appointments, and of those, 1,118 were medical appointments and 340 were mental health appointments. Regarding patients, 725 of them were connected to the district and 289 were high school students.
The majority of appointments have been medical appointments, primarily for sick visits or immunizations. It’s mostly used by those with connections to the district such as students and families.
The district and Rocking Horse opened the center to support the health needs of students, parents and the community. The idea started from community feedback given during the design of the district’s most recent Strategic Plan about access to care.
The health center offers mental health services, well-child visits, immunizations and vaccinations, same-day sick visits for students, chronic care management, women’s health and wellness, and patient advocacy and sports physicals. It recently added vision care, and dental care will be added in the future.
It has four exam rooms and three additional rooms for mental health treatment to provide primary care, vaccinations, health screenings and individual and group mental health counseling.
All Springfield students in the district’s 17 buildings from preschool to grade 12 can use the clinic with parental consent. As a Federally-Qualified Health Center, the health center will accept all patients regardless of their ability to pay.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently awarded Rocking Horse a second‑year allocation of $350,000 to sustain the SBHC partnership with the district. The funds will be applied to ongoing operational costs to continue delivering primary care, behavioral health and preventive services.
“This renewed investment, secured despite federal budget contractions, underscores HRSA’s confidence in the SBHC’s early success in improving student health access, reducing instructional time lost to off‑site appointments, and supporting Ohio’s Whole Child Framework," Leinasars said.
The Health Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
To make an appointment at the Health Center or for more information, call 937-717-2578 or visit www.scsdoh.org/page/school-based-health-center.
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