Madigan, Puyallup School District partner to open clinic

For children of both active-duty and retired military members at Rogers High School, getting to the doctor is now a bit easier.

The Puyallup School District and Madigan Army Medical Center have partnered to create a satellite adolescent school-based clinic at the South Hill high school. The clinic opened Friday.

With Rogers having the highest number of military students enrolled in the district, the partnership is helping students to miss less class time and parents to miss less work to take their child to the doctor.

“The classroom is the waiting room now,” said Lt. Col. Dr. Keith Lemmon. “When it’s time for us to see them, we pull them out of class.”

While parents aren’t required to attend their child’s appointment at the clinic, Lemmon says clinic staff will call the parents after the appointment to let them know how the appointment went.

With Rogers having the busiest health room in the district, nurse Heather Fehr says the clinic will help serve a vulnerable population.

“The (parent’s) deployment for military kids is huge,” she said. “When one parent is deployed, the other parent is like a single parent, being at home taking care of four or five other kids.”

Currently, Madigan Army Medical Center staff members will be at Rogers every other Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., but will increase hours at the school as needed.

The clinic offers vaccines, wellness visits, sports physicals, sports injuries, routine follow ups, concussion management, women’s health and mental health services.

“It’s a great partnership,” said Kathy Ehman, Chief Special Services officer for the district. “The kids are out of school less, and they’re healthier. It’s a benefit for the students and their families.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Madigan, Puyallup School District partner to open clinic."