Advisory panel to oversee new Wheeling District 21 community clinic
Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 will seek prospective appointees to an advisory board tasked with providing feedback and recommendations for the district's new community health clinic.
The panel could include school administrators, nurses, medical professionals, local health department officials, municipal leaders, clergy, youth service agency providers, parents and students.
Those were among the suggestions provided by Superintendent Michael Connolly and school board members Thursday night.
It's likely the advisory board would have at least eight members who would serve staggered terms of one or two years each, and be appointed by Connolly. But the arrangement is still being finalized - one of several steps the district needs to take before the clinic is up and running next spring.
Formally known as a school-based health center, the 3,000-square-foot clinic will be on the first floor of District 21's three-story headquarters that opened in January at 959 W. Dundee Road in Wheeling.
Initially, the health center will be open to students, their siblings, teachers and staff, but the goal is to make clinical services available to the community at-large within three years.
"I think we want to start with just our students because we want to hit the ground running," said Micheal DeBartolo, the district's assistant superintendent for finance and operations. "We want to make sure we have the right number of staff, the right number of people that are servicing, and then expand as we go along."
DeBartolo is wrapping up negotiations with Advocate Health Group to operate the clinic, before the school board votes on a formal agreement. Then the board would award bids for build out of the medical office space.
An opening is tentatively set for April.