Mercy Clinic and St. Louis Public Schools recently opened their first onsite medical clinic at Roosevelt High School. In its first two-and-a-half weeks of operation, the nurse practitioner at the new Mercy Clinic at Roosevelt High School has already taken care of 104 students in advance of the official ribbon cutting on Thursday, August 30, which marked a major milestone in school-based health.

“Our office offers routine physicals, sports physicals, care for unexpected illness (such as sore throats, upper respiratory infection, pneumonia); we offer immunizations and care for children of currently enrolled students,” said Dr. Sara Cole, Mercy family physician who will oversee the clinic.

“We will provide care regardless of ability to pay and we offer help with Medicaid enrollment as needed.”

The medical clinic has six exam rooms and is located in a renovated and formerly unused space at the school. In addition to medical services, behavioral health and counseling and eventually dental services will be available as well.

“It creates the opportunity for increased attendance because we no longer have to miss school for doctor appointments,” Principal Crystal Gale said.  “We can fill out the clinic form, get the parent consent and get everything taken care of right here at Roosevelt.”

The services are open to students and staff at Roosevelt.

Part of a $1 million grant from Boeing made the pilot clinic possible.

“Supporting Mercy’s endeavor to make health care convenient to both Roosevelt students and staff with the opening of this unique clinic was a very easy decision that aligns with our community giving objectives and will dramatically improve the overall education experience at the school,” said George Roman, vice president of State and Local Government Operations at Boeing.

Mercy was approached with the idea for a clinic by the Community Alliance to Reinvigorate Education (CARE) team at Roosevelt.

“It really started with an idea from the CARE group, which is a community group that adopted this school some three years ago,” SLPS Superintendent Kelvin Adams, said. “They started talking about the idea, and reached out to different hospitals and Mercy stepped up to the plate.”

Across from the clinic, Roosevelt is also opening an onsite child care center in a couple of weeks for babies of Roosevelt students. 

"He protects our time," she said.  "He has given us the latitude to say, 'Your focus is instruction, don't spend your time on anything else."