First school-based clinic in Smith County provides health care for Chapel Hill area

Published 3:50 pm Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Next to the Chapel Hill High School campus, the Family Circle of Care Chapel Hill Clinic welcomes students, staff and any other community members in need of affordable health care.

Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the clinic welcomes patients of all ages. It offers primary medical care and mental health services for the general public, in addition to Chapel Hill employees, students and their families. After opening on Aug. 22, the first few weeks were busy, according to Family Circle of Care CEO Kristen Harris.

“We have been busy right from the very first day that we opened,” Harris said. “There’s a lot of excitement around that — to have a clinic here.”

The clinic is currently the only school-based clinic in Smith County. School-based clinics provide health care on or near school campuses from elementary to high school. They increase access to care, improve health outcomes and increase academic achievement according to County Health Rankings and Roadmaps from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

“It’s really exciting, because that’s really been determined to be highly successful,” Harris said. “Kids trust the school district. They’re at school every day. It’s convenient for families to be able to have their kids get medical care near where they go to school.”

Family Circle of Care received approval from the Health Resources and Services Administration to open a school-based health center. This is part of the federal government’s efforts to encourage these types of health centers. In addition, it received incubator funding from the state.

After Chapel Hill ISD started its research into school-based health centers, Superintendent Lamond Dean heard about Family Circle of Care’s plans to write a grant for a school-based health center. He proposed a partnership during a board meeting and they began working together.

Chapel Hill ISD is excited about the partnership.

“I’m just looking forward to our kids having access to all of those services,” said Deidra Sutton, Chapel Hill ISD Executive Director of Student Services & Human Resources. “It’s very convenient for them. It will be affordable, and just making sure that we’re taking care of the whole child.”

The clinic offers a sliding scale for people 20% below the federal poverty guideline. In addition, it takes Medicaid, Medicare and all commercial insurances. Currently, the clinic offers preventative health visits, sick visits, athletic physicals, immunizations, lab services and diagnosis testing, medical screenings, nutrition health education and counseling and mental health counseling. In the future, it plans to add dentistry.

As part of youth substance prevention efforts, the clinic is also offering a vaping and substance use program. In addition, it has a bilingual mental health counselor to help students who are in the English as a second language program. The counselor will be running a support group for students new to the school district.

“There’ll be other groups like emotional regulation and friendship and small groups that we’ll be able to provide as we move on forward,” Harris said. “So traditional, one on one, individual counseling, but then working with the school on other group settings.”

When it first opened, the clinic started out with more appointments than it expected. Despite being busy, staff try to set aside appointments for walk-ins.

“We want to make sure we always have some same-day openings so that people can get in if they’re sick,” Harris said. “We want to be people’s medical home, be able to come to us for (wellness) visits and return when they’re sick, and that’s the goal of all of our clinics.”

The clinic is located at 13172 State Hwy 64 East, Suite 8 behind the Career & Technology Education building. It is recommended to enter on County Road 215.  

For anyone interested in scheduling an appointment, visit tylercircleofcare.org or call 903-535-9041. Forms need to be filled out ahead of time and are available at www.tylercircleofcare.org/online-forms#.

Where: 13172 State Hwy 64 East, Suite 8, Tyler

When: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Why: A variety of services are offered to Chapel Hill students, employees, their families, and the genreal public, including:

• Preventive Health Visits (well checks, immunizations, etc.)

• Sick visits

• Athletic physicals

• Diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury

• Follow-up and potential referral for serious illness or injury

• Lab services and diagnostic testing, including rapid strep, RSV and flu

• Medical screenings (blood pressure, hearing, vision, scoliosis, etc.)

• Nutritional health education and counseling

• Mental health counseling and referrals

• General dentistry for children and adults (coming soon)

Information: Call (903)535-9041 or visit www.tylercircleofcare.org .