The Met School is opening an on-site health center Monday in collaboration with Providence Community Health Centers, finally bringing to fruition a seven-year effort by staff, community members and students – two of whom devoted their senior thesis projects to the cause.
The center will be run by PCHC, which has run the Mount Pleasant High School Health Center since 1987. It will operate three days a week, with nurse practitioner Bethany Baker and Dr. David Tapscott providing care.
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“Our students’ health needs are urgent,” Met Director Dennis Littky said. “We’re thrilled to finally be able to help them.”
The center will serve as a “medical home” for Met students aged 13 to 20, many of whom have no primary-care provider, according to Littky. Students will be able to get physical exams; immunizations; health education; sex education and counseling, including family planning and birth control as well as STD and HIV testing; substance-abuse counseling, and mental health assessments and treatment.
Services will be available, free of charge, to all students. For those who are insured, PCHC will bill their carriers.
“We’re very excited about this partnership and the opportunity to impact the lives of so many young people,” said Marie Ghazal, a driving force behind the project and PCHC vice president of patient care and nursing services.
Funding for the center came from The Rhode Island Foundation and Lifespan; the state Department of Health also recently signed on to support it. The two partners said their vision for the center is to make it as innovative as The Met itself.
“We already have fourteen social work and psychology interns here,” said Met Director of Health & Wellness Maryellen Butke. “Now we will be able to integrate the mental care that we already provide with the physical care.”
The school is holding an opening celebration Monday at 11 a.m. For more information about The Met, go to www.metcenter.org. For more information about PCHC, go to www.providencechc.org.
