Cincinnati Children’s and New Richmond Schools plan to open campus health center

Over 2,000 students and other local kids will have easier access to care

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Cincinnati Children's is collaborating with New Richmond Schools to open a campus health center, which will be within walking distance for over 1,100 students enrolled in the public middle school or high school. The village also has two elementary schools, and parents of those 1,100 pupils as well as preschoolers or other local kids will be able to drive them to the health center to get care.

The health center will open at New Richmond Middle School in the 2025-26 school year. The location at 1141 Bethel-New Richmond Road is close to the high school, so older students will be able to walk there in a few minutes. The village is along the Ohio River in a rural area of Clermont County, about 25 miles east of downtown Cincinnati.

"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."

About one-third of students in the district don't have a primary care medical provider, and the school-based health center will bring services that are vital to those local families. Cincinnati Children's will work closely with district staff - including the school nurse, psychologist and guidance counselors - to address wellness and mental health needs that are critical to the success of students. The collaboration will decrease unnecessary emergency department visits as well as hospital admissions, both of which can impact instructional time and lead to absenteeism.

Services provided by Cincinnati Children's will include access to care for ill students, prescriptions for needed medications, management of chronic health conditions, preventive oral health services, immunizations, developmental and mental health screenings, medical testing and referral for specialty care if necessary.

"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 Evaline Alessandrini, MD, 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.

"Our health system has decades of experience operating school-based health centers, including several locations in the city of Cincinnati," Alessandrini noted. "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," Alessandrini said. "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."

Several Cincinnati Children's employees will work at the school-based health center, including a nurse practitioner and a medical assistant.

Many families who live in the New Richmond area depend on Cincinnati Children's, and the school-based health center will bring care closer to home for them. In 2023, Cincinnati Children's had over 7,000 patient encounters with kids in New Richmond's 45157 ZIP Code. Of those, 2,375 children didn't have a primary care provider. In addition, many families in New Richmond rely on Cincinnati Children's for treatment of chronic conditions, including asthma, mental health and behavioral health. A survey showed that 70% of parents in the district favored the use of a school-based health center in New Richmond.

Renovation work is to begin soon on 1,400 square feet of storage space at New Richmond Middle School. The space will be reconfigured to create the health center, which will include a patient reception area with access from inside the school building as well as outside, an intake room, three examination rooms, a lab, a bathroom, and a storage room for equipment and supplies.

Design and construction will be paid for with a grant that New Richmond Schools obtained from the Appalachian Community Innovation Centers, which is a program created by the state of Ohio.

General contractor Kramer & Feldman Inc. of Cincinnati and VSWC Architects of Mason, Ohio, developed a cost estimate and concept renderings. New Richmond Schools will oversee design and construction bids for the health center.

About New Richmond Schools

New Richmond Exempted Village School District serves 2,200 students, who live in the Clermont County villages of New Richmond and Moscow as well as portions of Monroe Township, Ohio Township, Pierce Township, Tate Township and Washington Township. The district includes four schools: Locust Corner Elementary and Monroe Elementary (both pre-kindergarten through fifth grade), New Richmond Middle School (grades 6-8) and New Richmond High School (grades 9-12).

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