Health center offers alternative for students without medical insurance
Spring Valley resident Jayasmin Borges’ family does not have health insurance, so she is grateful for a new clinic where the only requirement is that her kids be enrolled in school.
The 1,500-square-foot Casey Jones Health Center opened in December at 5630 Coley Ave., near the southeast corner of Wynn Elementary School, 5655 Edna Ave.
Earlier in the year Borges brought her 6-year-old son, Javier, to the clinic because he had the stomach flu. On May 6, she and her daughter, 14-year-old Karina, walked to the clinic from their home one mile away because Karina had a swollen bug bite on her left thigh. Borges said her daughter’s school, Cashman Middle School, told her about the Casey Jones clinic. After filling out a few forms, Karina was seen by the on-site physician assistant, Tina Martin, prescribed antibiotics and told to return the next day.
“It is so hard not having insurance,” Borges said. “I’m so glad they put this clinic here.”
If not for the clinic, Borges said she probably would have stayed home with her daughter and hoped things did not get worse.
The clinic serves mostly students at Wynn but is open to any Clark County School District student. It is managed by the Foundation for Positively Kids, 3555 W. Reno Ave. The nonprofit organization operates several local health care facilities for medically fragile children and low-income families, including another school-based clinic at Cunningham Elementary School, 4145 Jimmy Durante Blvd.
Fred Schultz, CEO of the Foundation for Positively Kids, said business at the center has started slowly — it sees about seven students per day — and he is trying to spread the word of its existence.
“I think it has to do with the timing right now,” he said. “It takes time to get the information out to parents.”
Schultz said most of the students whom the center has helped have come in for asthma, sore throats, headaches and some small scrapes, bumps and bruises.
The clinic is typically open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but those hours and days may vary. To schedule an appointment, call 702-262-0037.
Schultz said the clinic plans to offer services such as vaccinations and physicals for athletes before the start of next school year. He also said the clinic might offer educational programs for parents of kids with asthma or other illnesses. Positively Kids also has counselors who can work with a family to help them get Medicaid, Schultz said.
NAIOP member businesses donated materials and volunteered time during the past three years to build the facility. It is named for the late Casey Jones, a former NAIOP president and founder of the organization’s community service committee. NAIOP formerly was the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties but is now identified only by its acronym, said current NAIOP of Southern Nevada President Kirk Boylston.
NAIOP member Sallie Doebler said the idea was pitched by some members of the community service committee in 2009.
“When we were thinking of what we could do, we decided to create a lifetime legacy to (Jones) and build a facility that would take care of kids,” Doebler said.
The group approached the school district with the idea, and Wynn was recommended as an area of high need for such services.
The clinic is not open to the general public, and it cannot perform surgery or sutures, Schultz said. Students with insurance are allowed, too. A few days per month a dentist is on-site and can perform basic cleanings and other procedures.
For more information, visit positivelykids.org.
Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 702-224-5524.
