We have plans to move forward with the concept of a Health Care Center at the Roosevelt Education Center. Roosevelt was selected as the location largely because of the Welcome Center where all kindergarten and students new to the District register for District 742 schools throughout the year. The space is ideal and will be able to accommodate the equipment needed for a care center. It is very clear there is a need, as a lot of students who are enrolling do not have a medical provider. Essentially, at the Welcome Center, we want to help families with initial services, i.e., immunizations, developmental and early childhood screening, child and teen checkups, etc. The biggest objective is to provide information and referrals to connect students to a medical provider. Meetings to make arrangements are being held with Stearns County Public Health, District Nurses, CentraCare, Health Partners, and the St. Cloud Medical Group. The Center will be open part-time to start. It is expected that nurses and doctors from the three medical providers will volunteer time at the Center. At a minimum, we will have LPNs doing hearing and vision screenings.
We will be submitting a letter of inquiry to the Medica Foundation requesting $30,000 in startup costs to cover the purchase of equipment and a part-time nurse. CentraCare has volunteered to provide some equipment.
This will be brought to the Board of Education at the June 10th meeting with a request for approval at the June 25th Board meeting. It is anticipated to have the Health Care Center operational in August. This will really help our District’s families.
