CINCINNATi — A campus health center will open in Clermont County through a collaboration between Cincinnati Children's and New Richmond Schools.
Approximately one-third of students in the district do not have a primary care provider, making the health center at the New Richmond Middle School vital for families seeking access. It is set to open during the 2025-26 school year, within walking distance for more than 1,100 students enrolled in the middle school or high school.
“We feel very fortunate to be collaborating with the premier organization in the country for providing child health care,” said Dr. Jill Hollandsworth, interim superintendent of the New Richmond Exempted Village School District. “Working together, a badly needed service is going to be provided for our students and parents. Accessible, high-quality health care is key to developing healthy children. This is a tremendous opportunity for our community.”
The Village of New Richmond is located about 25 miles east of downtown Cincinnati along the Ohio River in Clermont County.
Cincinnati Children's will work alongside district staff to address the wellness and mental health needs of students with the goal to decrease unnecessary emergency room department visits and hospital admissions.
“We will make high-quality pediatric care available for New Richmond students who might otherwise not receive it, addressing their preventive, acute and chronic illness care needs,” said Dr. Evaline Alessandrini, chief operating officer of Cincinnati Children’s. “In addition, we will partner with community physicians and other pediatric providers to ensure that care is coordinated for youths who have existing medical homes.
Renovation work will start soon on 1,400 square feet of storage space at the middle school. The space will be reconfigured into the health center including a patient reception area, accessible from outside and from within the school building, an intake room, three examination rooms, a lab, bathroom and storage space.
The hospital system will provide services including access to care for sick students, prescriptions for medications, management of chronic health conditions, preventive oral health services, immunizations, developmental and mental health screenings, medical testing and referrals for specialty care if needed.
“Our health system has decades of experience operating school-based health centers, including several locations in the city of Cincinnati,” Alessandrini said. “The school-based model has shown evidence of improving both health and educational outcomes while reducing student absenteeism. Services at the health center in New Richmond will also be available to other children in the community. That will include care of newborns, youths and older kids. Our primary care providers work closely with pediatric specialists at Cincinnati Children’s for more advanced care options if needed.”
In 2023, Cincinnati Children's saw more than 7,000 patient encounters with children in New Richmond's 45157 ZIP code with 2,375 children not having a primary care provider. Many families rely on the hospital system for chronic condition treatments such as asthma, mental health and behavioral health.
A survery showed 70% of parents favored the use of a school-based health center in New Richmond.
Cincinnati Children's employees will work at the health center including a nurse practitioner and a medical assistant.
New Richmond Schools obtained a grant from the Appalachian Community Innovation Centers, a program created by the state of Ohio, which will pay for design and construction. The school district will oversee design and construction bids; however general contractor Kramer & Feldman Inc. of Cincinnati and VSWC Architects of Mason, Ohio, developed a cost estimate and concept renderings.
