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W-F considers on-site clinic

School board, administrators discuss options

By Angie Landsverk


Weyauwega-Fremont School District administrators continue to consider options for the district’s convenient care clinic.

The renewal of the district’s near/on-site clinic was discussed during the board’s July Committee of the Whole meeting.

“We will keep digging on this and bring forth more suggestions, recommendations,” said District Administrator Scott Bleck.

He said the district wants to increase how available the clinic is to the staff.

One way to do so would be to move the clinic on site.

“Our intent is to have it on campus so it is convenient to staff,” Bleck said.

The district currently has a month-to-month contract with ThedaCare to house the clinic within ThedaCare’s Weyauwega clinic.

Staffed by a nurse practitioner, the near-site clinic is open from 2-6 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays.

Employees on the district’s health insurance, as well as their spouses and dependents, may visit the clinic for acute care.

They do so at no cost to them.

When school is in session, employees either have to make appointments when they have no job obligations or “put in for a doctor appointment just as if they’re going off campus,” Bleck said.

He said the clinic’s hours extend past the school day, so employees may make appointments after the school day.

ThedaCare determined the district had a net savings of $7,228 in its first year of having the clinic.

That number represents if a person would have gone into a traditional medical clinic for treatment instead of the near-site clinic.

Aurora recently presented the idea of creating a space within the high school for an on-site clinic.

Bleck said the district will continue investigating that idea.

Drew Niehans, the district’s business manager, said Aurora’s idea offers flexibility.

“One thing with Aurora that is attractive is they have the ability to be flexible, like to shut it down during the summer when everyone is gone. We don’t have that flexiblity with Theda,” he said.

The near-site clinic in ThedaCare’s Weyauwega clinic has to be open in the summer, Niehans said.

Bleck said an example of a school district with an on-site clinic is the Seymour School District.

Bellin Health offers that clinic.

Bleck said if Weyauwega-Fremont decides to have an on-site clinic, those visiting it would need to enter the building through its main entrance and then access the on-site clinic.

“We have to know who is in the building at all times,” he said.

The privacy of those visiting the clinic would be maintained.

Clinic services
The near-site clinic opened in early 2016 as a way for the district to more effectively manage risk, enhance lifestyle modifications and monitor claims.

Ansay & Associates, the district’s consultant, recommended the district reallocate the funds it was spending to provide biometric screenings and health risk assessments on a convenient care clinic.

When the school board voted in late 2015 to move forward with the idea, the district was spending $27,300 to provide those screenings.

Initially, the district planned to house the clinic within its old middle school building on Main Street, in Weyauwega.

Then, ThedaCare proposed housing the clinic within its own facility in Weyauwega.

The district’s cost to have the clinic in that facility was $35,712.

The clinic’s services include:

• Physical exams (including sports and school physicals).

• Lifestyle medicine consultations (diabetes, hypertension, depression, stress, high cholesterol, obesity, asthma, sleep apnea).

• Minor injuries (back pain, bruises, scrapes, cuts, burns, sprains, joint pain, athletic injuries, bites, stings).

• Minor skin conditions and treatment (rashes, athlete’s foot, hives, itching, dryness, removal of benign lesions, mole, wart and skin tag removal, suture removal).

• Consultations for minor conditions (respiratory, cough, runny nose, sore throat, sinus problems, allergies, ear problems, urinary problems, gastrointestinal problems).

• Pediatric services (cough, cold, sore throat, earaches, sinus problems, allergies, pink eye, rash, skin conditions, sprains, strains).

• Immunizations (Influenza, Tetanus, Hepatitis A/B).

• General lab draws.

The clinic does not provide surgeries, colonscopies, orthopedic services, cardiology services, radiology services, obstetric services and procedures, gynecological procedures, lab processing, pathology testing, allergy testing, travel medicine, other immunizations and well baby care.

The convenient care clinic is meant to be an extension of an employee’s primary care provider, not a replacement of that provider.

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