Kid Clinic: A One of A Kind Partnership between CCH & CCSD

Campbell County Health and Campbell County School District began working together in 2008 to provide mental health services to students within their schools. Both groups came to realize there were even more potential benefits for the students, and began looking for a way to add medical care to the mix and create a school-based health clinic. The Kid Clinic opened in 2014 with the help of grants from the John P. Ellbogen Foundation and HRSA (The U.S. Health and Services Administration), provings $500,000 for construction and the same amount for staff salaries for three years.

This unique partnership provided primary medical care and counseling services to students in a former elementary school building. Staff included a pediatrician and licensed professional counselors. A Case Manager helped families find community resources, medication assistance, enroll in Medicaid and CHIP programs, and counseling services were provided on a sliding fee scale.

Fast- forward to today. The Kid Clinic now provides primary medical care for infants over two weeks old up to age 21, and counseling for children ages 4-21. Transportation from the child’s school to the Kid Clinic was added a few years ago. Primarily used for counseling appointments, it ensures that students are getting the services they need, even if parents are unable to take them.

Nurse Practitioner Holly Hink describes the working relationship she has with her counseling colleagues. “We can get a well-rounded picture of the whole child and their family,” said Holly. “I can refer a child for counseling, and discuss a situation, offer insight and ask for input, all in the same location, almost in real time. And the counselors can ask a medical question that may impact how they are working with that child.”

Hink, who has been a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for over 16 years, also fields calls from teachers, counselors and principals, the people who see and interact with kids every day.

“Other communities have approached the school district and asked how we did this,” said Holly. “This is how school-based healthcare is supposed to work- everyone working together to benefit the child.”

The Hillcrest School Building, original home of the Kid Clinic, was built in the late 1970’s, and was no longer functional for the growing clinic. CCH and CCSD began planning to replace the Kid Clinic with a new building. The new Kid Clinic building is on school-district- owned property, close to a school and centrally located on 7th Street and Kindrick Avenue. The nearly 4,000 square foot clinic has five exam rooms plus a triage room, and five counseling offices.

CCH and CCSD split the costs of the $1.4 Million project with the help of community donors including CAMPCO Credit Union and the Campbell County Healthcare Foundation.

Learn more about Kid Clinic and how they can help your children stay healthy by visiting our website. Or by calling us at 307-688-8700 or stopping by: 702 S. Kendrick Avenue, Gillette, Wyoming 82716, just east of Twin Spruce Junior High. Our providers look forward to working with your students.