A $500,000 federal grant will allow the Roseland Children's Health Center to double its exam rooms and handle an additional 1,100 patients, according to officials at the Southwest Community Health Centers, which operates the clinic on the campus of Roseland Elementary School.
The grant from the federal Affordable Care Act is part of a $95 million distribution to 278 school-based health care center programs across the country.
The Konocti Unified School District in Lower Lake received a $444,200 grant through the same program.
"We have far outgrown our tiny little clinic. We have four exam rooms and we are doing 11,000 visits a year," said Meredith Kieschnick, pediatrician and medical director for the Roseland clinic.
The expansion will include increasing the space from 1,000 to 3,300 square feet, adding four exam rooms, creating a larger lab, adding room for counseling, case management and education and enlarging the reception area.
At peak service times, clients sometimes wait outside, officials said.
Operators of the clinic expect the work to be complete by September 2013 and enable them to increase the patient load from 2,100 to 3,200.
"It's such a proven way to improve the health of children in the community — to link a clinic with a school where the kids are already going, where they have relationships with teachers, where people can identify health issues and get them care immediately," said Naomi Fuchs, chief executive officer of Santa Rosa Community Health Centers. The agency runs the clinic and seven others, including one at Elsie Allen High School.
The annual budget for the Roseland clinic is $1.2 million. More than eight out of 10 children treated there are Latino and all are clients of Medi-Cal, Healthy Families or have no insurance, Fuchs said.
The grant is for capital improvements to the existing 1,000-square-foot structure that was built to handle 2,000 visits a year, Fuchs said.
In 2010-11, the clinic handled 9,180 patient visits, not including about 2,000 mental health visits and immunizations, up from 8,500 in 2009-10 and 2,000 when Kieschnick started at the clinic more than a decade ago.
"It's kind of my dream coming true," she said.
The clinic is open Monday through Friday with extended hours on Thursday and Saturday morning.
Staff writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. Reach her at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.
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