On March 16th, 2020, central Ohio-based Heart of Ohio Family Health will open Franklin County’s first school-based health center at Whitehall-Yearling High School (675 S. Yearling Rd.). To celebrate the delivery of this project, both WYHS and Heart of Ohio Family Health will hold an open house for the new facility on Thursday, March 5th, from 3 – 6 PM. The open house will consist of tours of the new facility culminating in a special presentation in the school’s auditorium at 5:30 PM.
School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) reduce barriers associated with accessing health services by providing reduced-cost services, providing comprehensive and culturally competent healthcare services inside the school and eliminating transportation issues.
“Our partnership with Heart of Ohio Family Health has been outstanding thus far,” said WCS Superintendent, Brian Hamler. “Whitehall City Schools is very excited to be able to help provide them with the space necessary to serve not only our student population but our Whitehall community as a whole. By simply providing convenient access to care, this has the potential to do great things for our students’ personal academic achievement.”
Heart of Ohio Family Health’s new health center at WYHS will be open to the public (insured and uninsured) from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. It will be staffed by a Certified Nurse Practitioner, two medical assistants, a front desk/registration staff member, and a behavioral health counselor (as needed). Services will include immunizations, same-day sick appointments, behavioral health services, physical health services, sports physicals, substance use screenings, chronic care management, and more.
This unique project is funded from the Franklin County Board of Commissioners Catalyst Grant and the Educational Services Center (ESC) of Central Ohio.