Clinic to offer free care for Mountlake Terrace High students

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Mountlake Terrace High School students can soon see a doctor, dentist or mental health counselor a short walk from their classroom.

The school is set to open an on-site clinic this month as part of Snohomish County’s school-based Health Center program. The clinic will provide a full range of health care services at no cost to students or their families.

Most insurance plans cover these services. The clinic will cover those who can’t pay.

Providers at the clinic will also help students with health insurance, specialty care, transportation and interpretation services. They are expected to serve 250 students per year, with 750 total patient visits.

“COVID really highlighted inequities in health,” said Mara Marano-Bianco, director of health services for the Edmonds School District. “This is a way we can advocate for our students and families.”

On Wednesday, two rooms next to the school’s main entrance — a former mailroom and former office space — were in the final stages of renovation. The clinic should be ready for medical appointments in the next two weeks, said Zoe Reese, the business development director managing the project. Dentist and mental health appointments are set to follow shortly after.

In 2021, Snohomish County was the only county in the state without school-based health centers. Reese, who works for the Community Health Center of Snohomish County, partnered with Marano-Bianco at the school district to open the first clinic at Meadowdale High School in fall of 2022.

The nonprofit and school district looked at access to low-barrier health care, income and community survey results to determine which schools had the most need. In the 2023-24 school year, 46.5% of Meadowdale students were from low-income families, and 35% of Mountlake Terrace students were in the same bracket, according to data from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

At Mountlake Terrace, 60% of ninth graders who have unstable housing pass all their courses, Marano-Bianco said.

“We’re really hoping the clinic will help us move the needle on academic needs,” she said.

After the clinic opened at Meadowdale, the number of students unable to attend school due to immunization requirements dropped from several hundred to fewer than 100, Reese said. When the clinic expanded to serve students at surrounding schools, Meadowdale Middle School reached a 100% immunization rate.

Lack of dental care access is a persistent health disparity — high-school age children from low-income families are twice as likely to have untreated cavities — and it’s one of the main causes of chronic disease and truancy from school. School-based health centers “solve this problem by bringing dental services to children in school,” according to a national review that Global Pediatric Health published in 2019.

“The clinic can help emerging youth engage in health care,” Marano-Bianco said. “When some may not have access, or support from their parents.”

The new clinic is possible in part because of a $208,000 grant from the Verdant Health Commission, the public hospital district serving south Snohomish County. The county’s capital fund and local research group foundry10 have also contributed to the clinic.

“We recognize that we have a changing population in south Snohomish County,” said Lisa Edwards, superintendent at the Verdant Health Commission. “People may not have health insurance, may be undocumented, low-income or otherwise do not have direct access to health care.”

The school district is trying to garner more money for structural renovations to better accommodate medical services at the school. The county provided about 73% of what the district asked for, Marano-Bianco said.

Start-up costs, including the clinic’s “state-of-the-art” equipment and supplies, were about $75,000, Reese said. Then most of the ongoing costs go to paying staff. Beyond the services, Reese said the most important impact of the clinic is education.

“It’s a place for young people who don’t understand their bodies,” she said.

The clinic will be open during the school year with appointments before, during and after classes. In the spring, the new clinic is set to expand services to students at:

• Brier Terrace Middle;

• Brier Elementary;

• Cedar Way Elementary;

• Mountlake Terrace Elementary; and

• Terrace Park Elementary.

Correction: This story was updated to describe the Verdant Health Commission as a public hospital district and clarify the passing rate at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Sydney Jackson: 425-339-3430; sydney.jackson@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @_sydneyajackson.