Webutuck School District health clinic succeeds at going beyond the basic

AMENIA — Three years in, the full-service health clinic at the Webutuck School District, known internally as the school-based health center, has been a resounding success.

The clinic is staffed by a full-time physician who acts as a participating student’s primary care physician at no extra cost to families. Looking to expand the scope of medical services Webtuck could offer to its students, school nurse Charlie Davis proposed the clinic three years ago.

Given that visits to the doctor can prevent students from attending school on a given day, they were something Webutuck was happy to bring in-house, said Deputy Superintendent Robert Farrier. “We schedule those visits during study halls. Students come down, they have the appointment, and half an hour later they are back to class,” he said.

Because many Webutuck students would not otherwise have access to proper medical care, an illness is something that could cause a prolonged absence and have a serious effect on students’ health. “Really one of the main reasons why we introduced this was to try and improve on our chronic absenteeism,” Farrier said.

“The school-based health center has been incredibly received by the student population and by the parents,” Farrier said. Currently, 77% of Webutuck students are enrolled in the free program.

The clinic is operated by Open Door Health, a healthcare provider which runs many similar clinics in Westchester County, Farrier said.

Even if a student does not have insurance, Open Door, which receives federal funding to run clinics such as the Webutuck Health Center, will provide care free of charge to the student. Having received more than $100,000 in grant funding toward the project, the only cost Webtucuk was required to incur was the construction of a suitable space to house the clinic. Beyond students and families in the district, the health program at Webtucuk has provided a model for other schools in the district, Farrier said. “Every school district in Dutchess County has come at least once to visit us and to learn about how we set the clinic up and how we run things at the school,” he said.

The clinic is part of a broader attempt by the Webutuck School District to improve student life through the allocation of school funds to projects beyond the basic responsibilities of the district, Farrier said.

“We offer free breakfast and lunch for all of our students. We’re trying to make sure that our students don’t go home hungry and that they’re getting proper meals during the school day,” he said.

The clinic has been such a success at Webutuck that other school districts in the county are attempting to replicate the program locally. “The Wappinger’s school district was really impressed with what they saw… this has really been a first for Dutchess County,” Farrier said.