Las Vegas elementary school will have an on-site health clinic

Clark County School District students and their immediate family members will soon have access to health care services at a clinic opening at a southeast Las Vegas elementary school.

The Clark County School Board unanimously approved a five-year agreement Dec. 14 with the local nonprofit First Person Care Clinic to operate a school-based health center at Cunningham Elementary School.

“We’re really excited about it because we love to work with kids,” First Person Care Clinic CEO Roxana Valeton said Thursday.

The Cunningham clinic hasn’t opened yet, and hours haven’t been set. Valeton said it probably will take one to three months to be set up.

The agreement is slated to run through mid-December 2028 and comes with no cost to the school district. First Person Care Clinic already provides some health care services at Valley High School.

Students and their immediate family members who live in the same household can receive services such as acute and chronic care, mental health services, immunizations and sports physicals.

“The District may also recommend specific schools for satellite services for use of the Provider’s mobile health care clinic,” according to School Board meeting materials.

The school district didn’t provide a comment in response to a Las Vegas Review-Journal inquiry about the new clinic.

As a Federally Qualified Health Center, First Person Care Clinic sees patients regardless of ability to pay, but it doesn’t mean it’s a free clinic, Valeton said.

The organization is responsible for whatever expenses are incurred at the Cunningham clinic, she said, and will try to collect payments, depending on insurance.

Immediate family members who are served by the clinic and don’t have health insurance can apply for a sliding fee scale to pay for services, she said.

Valeton said the organization is going to try to apply for grants as soon as the clinic opens to guarantee they can bring more benefits to patients and make operations more sustainable.

The new clinic at Cunningham will help fill a void after a previous school health center closed.

Cunningham had a health center for about five years operated by the Foundation for Positively Kids, but it closed in December 2018 because of funding issues.

Cunningham joins a handful of school district campuses that offer onsite health care.

UNLV Health operates two school-based health centers — at Bailey Middle School in northeast Las Vegas and the school district’s Family Support Center on South Maryland Parkway.

The school district also works with organizations to provide no-cost services to students, such as medical, dental, vision and mental health.

Some services are offered at specific schools, while others are district-wide.

Students districtwide can access telehealth primary care services through Hazel Health.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com. Follow @julieswootton on X.