Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 7, 2006

From the WPSD TV Channel 6 web site...

IL: School Clinic: Good Or Bad?

Ernie Mitchell,
WPSD NewsChannel 6

The possibility of a rural health clinic at Brookport Elementary School worries some parents. Several say they're not opposed, but want answers on school security, and the school giving up floor space.

"We feel fine about a clinic coming to Brookport," said school grandparent Alan Jeffords.

He added, "Poor people, I mean rural people, we need a clinic here at Brookport. But it's taking up part of our elementary school."

Well, not yet.

Massac Memorial Hospital CEO Jeff Durham says there's no final decision, but the hospital could open the Brookport clinic by the end of August.

Durham says the school system proposed the school as a possible clinic site "with the space that was available as a result of changing some class structures."

Durham says any clinic at the school would have a separate entrance, and no patient could wander into the school.

But having drug addicts anywhere near the school makes Jeffords uneasy.

He worries about "drug addicts that's going to come in the clinic looking for pain medication."

Rural health clinics operate at other southern Illinois schools.

Gallatin County school superintendent Les Oyler reports no problems from a clinic on his system's campus. It serves the general public, but has its own entrance.

Asked if a clinic at Anna-Jonesboro Community High School has been a problem, principal Jim Woodward said, "Not one time. It's a great thing, an advantage."

Woodward says teachers get prescriptions there, and avoid missing work. He says the clinic has also been positive on attendance.