Sally Hambelton to operate school-based clinics at Bakersfield, Gainesville this year
The new school year will be ushered in next week, and with it will come two new on-site school-based health clinics at Bakersfield and Gainesville Schools.
The clinics are made possible by a partnership between the two school districts and Baxter Health of Mountain Home, Arkansas, with Ozark County resident and Family Nurse Practitioner Sally Hambelton (APRN) at the helm.
Sally is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and brings an extensive background in family medicine to her new role at the school-based clinics.
Next week she will transition from working at the Regional Family Medicine clinic in Mountain Home, Arkansas, to working at the two school-based clinics in Ozark County full time. Although, Sally won’t be working in the RFM main office anymore, Dr. George Lawrence (MD), at that clinic, will serve as a collaborating supervising physician, ensuring comprehensive medical oversight and support.
Sally holds an undergraduate degree from Missouri State University and Southwest Baptist University, both in Springfield. She obtained a master’s degree in nursing from Graceland University.
She was raised in Gainesville, graduated from Gainesville High School and has deep-rooted connections to the community. She continues to reside in Gainesville with her husband of 15 years, Jared, and their three children: Macy, Denton and Tripp. Outside of caring for her patients, Sally is an active member of her church, Mammoth Assembly of God, where she teaches children’s church. Her love for music is evident as she enjoys singing and playing the piano.
The Times has provided basic information about the clinics here, but if readers have any questions about either clinic, it’s best to call the office directly. At Bakersfield, call 417-284-7333, and at Gainesville, call 417-284-7333.
School clinic locations and hours
Bakersfield: At Bakersfield, the clinic is located in a small area inside the FEMA building, across from the superintendent’s office. There is only one exam room. Sally will be taking appointments at the Bakersfield school-based clinic from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Gainesville: At Gainesville, the clinic will be housed in the junior high/high school nurse’s office. Sally will be taking appointments at the Gainesville school-based clinic from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.
What type of clinic is this, and who can utilize the services?
The two clinics are focused on family practice, and patients will need to make appointments. The clinics are not urgent care based. Patients may be seen for a variety of typical illnesses; however, no major or minor surgeries or procedures, x-rays or other major diagnostic testing will be done at the clinics. If you have questions on specific services offered, please call the clinic staff.
Bakersfield: The Bakersfield school-based clinic is open to students, school faulty and staff as well as the Bakersfield general public.
Superintendent Amy Britt told the Times that is hoped that the primary patients seen at the school-based clinic will be students and staff, but the decision was made to open it to the public there because there is no other healthcare provider located in that town.
She added that many Bakersfield residents are established patients of Sally and have been traveling to the Mountain Home clinic to seek her services there over the last several years. Therefore, the school-based clinic will provide those patients with her services, just closer to home now.
During the Bakersfield clinics’ initial days, it may accept walk-in clients in order to get the clinic established and have enough patients to keep it sustainable, Britt said. She said they do not anticipate it to be a common occurrence in the future, but she says staff want to make it easy for local folks to visit the clinic in the beginning.
Gainesville: At the Gainesville school-based clinic, the services are only open to Gainesville School District students, faculty and staff. There are three other health clinics located in Gainesville, and therefore, the clinic at the Gainesville School will not be open to the general public.
How will the clinics be accessed by the general public?
Bakersfield: “If a patient is not a student or school employee, they will drive around the road in front of the elementary school and access the road outside the rock wall, as if they were driving to the parking lot where the old Ford house used to be,” Superintendent Britt said.
There will be parking right in front of the FEMA building. The parking area will have a live video feed streaming onto multiple employees’ screens, including that of the superintendent’s secretary. The only access the public will have to the school-based clinic is by going directly into the FEMA building.
Barricades will be placed when the clinic opens at 8 a.m., which will close off both sides of clinic parking to the school grounds. The barricades will be moved when the clinic closes at 3 p.m. to make a way for through-campus traffic and parent pick up. Students who are late in the morning will be dropped off at the front office, as always, and those students who drive, will have to park in the high school front parking lot.
“Again, this is the plan for opening the clinic,” Britt said. “We are trying to give the clinic the best opportunity to be sustainable. Once we have established patient load, we will look at fencing and gates similar to what is already in place on campus with the yellow metal gates. However, we do not want to install permanent infrastructure in the middle of our campus that would be costly and inconvenient if the clinic is not viable.”
Gainesville: The clinic will not be accessed by the general public.
How will the clinics be accessed by students and staff, and what about the school nurse?
The school nurses will still retain their offices and full time employment at the school districts, as they have in the past, both superintendents said.
At both schools, sick students must first see the school nurse. If a child is sick to the point that the school nurse believes he or she could benefit from seeing the nurse practitioner, the school nurse will call the parent or guardian to discuss the option.
The parent/guardian can then decide if they want the child to be seen at the school-based clinic - and if so, if they would like them to be seen with or without the parent present. If the parent indicates they would like to be present for the visit, the school nurse will transfer the call to the clinic, where the parent can make an appointment for the child.
If the parents want the child to be seen at the clinic without the parent present, that is OK too. An adult will walk younger children to the clinic office at either school. As always, student supervision will be present. The school doesn’t allow its young students to walk to the high school or specials without supervision, and a visit to the clinic would be no different.
Who is paying for this?
Baxter Health is supplying all staff, supplies, furniture and equipment for the clinics with the exception of grant funds the two schools received to help pay for staff costs in the start-up phase. Britt said that amount is $23,000 per year, for the first 3 years, at each school. The clinics’ staff will utilize the school district’s internet. Other than that, Baxter Health will cover all costs associated with the clinics.
Are these clinics free for students, staff or patients?
No. Payment and insurance will be handled as if the patient is seeing Sally at the Regional Family Medicine clinic. All patients will pay co-pays, as usual. Insurance will be billed as applicable. If the patient has no insurance, the billing will be treated as it is at Regional Family Medicine, as part of the Baxter Health network. Patients can ask clinic staff about sliding scales and fees for those who are not insured.
What if I don’t want my child to see the clinic nurse practitioner (NP)?
No problem at all. These clinics are offered as a resource, not a requirement. Parents are welcome to bring their child to see other providers at other health clinics, as they always have. The school-based clinics are only offered as an option for student healthcare.
To see Sally, every child must have parent permission, and a signed consent to treat form on file in. No child will see Sally without that student’s parent permission first.
Consent to treat forms will be sent home with all students at both schools in the beginning of the year.
If parents don’t want your child to be seen by Sally Hambelton at the school-based clinic, they simply don’t have to return that form. If a parent chooses not to sign at first, but they decide later they want to bring the child to the clinic to be seen, they can sign a form there in the clinic. Sending the consent to treat form home at the beginning of the year is simply for everyone’s convenience, officials said.
Safety concerns about the clinic and public access
Bakersfield: “The public access to the clinic has been mitigated to the best of our ability. While no barricade, fence or gate is 100 percent safe, lots of discussion and planning have taken place around the safety of this clinic. Here are some of the plans:
• The parking area will be monitored by staff electronically.
• The clinic is literally about 12 feet from the superintendent’s office. There are windows around the entire superintendent’s office so anyone accessing the clinic will be in plain view and in direct line of sight.
• The FEMA building doors are very heavy and make noise when opened or closed.
• There will be no medication in this clinic. If medication is needed, a prescription will be called into the patient’s pharmacy of choice.
• If the child is seen with the parent at the clinic, and the parent decides to sign the child out for illness, the clinic staff and/or superintendent’s secretary will notify the building secretary that the parent is signing the child out.
“We thank you for your patience and questions as we roll out this valuable partnership for our kids and community. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call the superintendent’s office at 417-284-7333,” Britt said.
Gainesville: Because the clinic is not open to the public, it isn’t expected that anyone other than staff, students and faculty who are already inside the buildings will have access to the clinic.
Find out more
To make an appointment or to find out more information about the Baxter Health school-based clinic in Bakersfield, call 417-284-7333.
To make an appointment or to find out more information about Baxter Health school-based clinic in Gainesville, call 417-679-4200.