Two Round Lake High student health clinic meetings set for next week
Two public information sessions are set for the coming week regarding a proposed health center at Round Lake High School.
Federal officials have awarded a $500,000 grant to help pay for construction of the school-based health center at Round Lake High. The center, which would be part of a larger construction program at the high school, must be built by December 2014 to qualify for the grant.
Parents, school employees and Round Lake Area Unit District 116 residents are encouraged to attend the information sessions about the health center plan. Both meetings will be at the Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center, 2007 N. Civic Center Way in the village.
The sessions are 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, and 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Under the plan, the facility would provide comprehensive primary care, behavioral health service, physicals, immunizations and disease management for about 2,000 Round Lake High School students as requested and with consent from a parent or legal guardian, officials said.
District 116 would own the clinic space and lease it to a health care provider, officials said. It would not replace any classrooms.
The center would be the first of its kind in Lake County and provide services based on ability to pay. Many District 116 pupils are from low-income families and qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Lake County Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, has come out against the District 116 clinic proposal, which first surfaced in 2010. Organization President Bonnie Quirke has questioned the potential of students obtaining birth-control pills or abortion referrals without their parents’ knowledge on school property.