NEW RICHMOND, Ohio — If you drive onto the New Richmond Exempted Village School District campus, you’ll see signs that you don’t see at many schools.
In addition to school events and calendars, signs also tell you Cincinnati Children's newest School-Based Health Center sits here.
"I think it's great for our school district, but even better for our community," said New Richmond Exempted Village School District Superintendent Paul Daniels.
Daniels said this new health center is a solution to a deep need in the community.
"Similar to a food desert, we have a health care desert," said Daniels. "And so that really fills a need in the community here as well."
Learn how the new school-based health center will fill the healthcare gap for New Richmond families:
Brittany Allen, who lives in New Richmond, will be the primary nurse practitioner at the new health center.
"I’m very, very excited to work in my community, to make an impact on my community," said Allen.
According to a study done by the school district, one-third of children in the area don’t have a primary care doctor.
Allen said she has seen that struggle for families first-hand when they get sick. And with being in a "health care desert," she says, even those who do have primary care doctors can struggle.
"Sometimes it’s even hard to just get sick visits when you’re in the flu and cold season. and I’ll kinda fill that need for people that are just having a hard time," said Allen.
The school-based health center will be available to all students and children in the New Richmond community, from newborn to 18 years old, no matter their insurance status.
"It’s just like a regular primary care practice," said Lisa Crosby, the Clinical Director for school-based health centers with Cincinnati Children’s. "We provide well-child care, we provide vaccines, we provide chronic illness care such as asthma or ADHD, mental health services."
Families can also get prescriptions through the health center, get lab work or tests done, be connected to specialists and resources to help them with any healthcare-related issue or obstacle they may have.
The health center is open on weekdays from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
To make an appointment, you can call 513-563-0792, or current patients may log onto MyChart at the webpage.
