A free Bloomington clinic offering health care services to students 21 and under reopened on Monday ahead of the new school year.
Health Commons at Pond, located north of Bloomington Kennedy High School, offers a number of services to students including sports physicals, immunizations for those 18 and younger, a variety of screenings, children’s dental services and telehealth visits.
"We also offer some mental health services, including mental health therapy for students who need that," said clinical coordinator Sarah Ogilvie. "We have a lot of stuff to offer to the children of the south metro communities."
The clinic is operated through a partnership between Bloomington Public Schools and the Minnesota State University, Mankato nursing program. Family nurse practitioner students, faculty, and staff provide care during clinic hours which typically run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m.
Ogilvie, who is also a nurse practitioner and nursing professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, said roughly 75% to 80% of the patients treated at the clinic are uninsured.
"Many times, something like a sports physical can be a big barrier for a student to participate in extracurricular activities. Since we can do those for free at the clinic, that really opens up activities for students that they can participate and be part of their school community."
For many families, the cost of health care adds to a number of already mounting expenses.
"I think there's barriers to access health care," Ogilvie said. "Sometimes we write prescriptions for people and we find out they never filled the prescription. Just the cost of medication and transportation can be big barriers."
Ogilvie hopes future grants will allow the clinic to provide transportation vouchers as well as low-cost , or free prescriptions.
"You can't learn at school very well if you're not feeling well. We think it's important that a child who is sick be able to be seen by a licensed provider and get the health care they need."
The Pond Clinic was recognized once again as one of the top clinics in the country. For the eighth year, it earned the Gold Standard rating for clinical excellence from the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC), the highest rating given by the organization.
"We like to tell people about that, we're proud of it," Ogilvie added . "It shows we're working hard to provide quality care and it gives patients confidence that they're receiving high-quality care at the clinic. In order to do that, we have to follow standardized procedures and policies in place."
The first day of school for Bloomington Public Schools is Aug. 31, with all students fully back starting Sept. 1.
