Together in Health: Wallace and Gresham-Barlow
From Wallace’s beginning serving homeless and low-income residents of downtown Portland, to our move to East County, we have always been guided by a simple principle: provide care where it is needed most. This spring, we will continue to follow that principle and open a new clinic to deliver low-cost, high-quality care to a critically underserved group in East County: our students.
Thanks to a new partnership with the Gresham-Barlow School District, our staff will offer students health care—on site at Gresham High School. This new clinic site will be the designated Student Health Center for Gresham-Barlow, a resource for all students in the district.
Student Health Centers
Student Health Centers are clinics embedded on-site at schools across the country. They provide unparalleled access to care for students that is affordable, confidential and student-centered. A student at a school with a Student Health Center can get medical and behavioral care in a safe, confidential space, without needing to miss school.
The need for low-cost, high-quality health care in the Gresham-Barlow student population is great. The student community self-reports poor physical and mental health at high rates, and identifies cost as the number one barrier to care. More than one in five students missed three or more days of school for physical or mental health reasons.
Gresham–Barlow was the only school district in the Portland metro area without a Student Health Center, and won’t break ground on the new clinic site until later this year. But there won’t be a delay in providing care, thanks to our Mobile Clinic. Wallace will be “parked” on-site this year in our mobile clinic that has been updated to provide more services and greater privacy.
A New Coat of Paint
To make our new clinic a success, Wallace is building partnerships with parents, teachers… and supporters like you. The cost of updating and staffing our mobile clinic is a significant hurdle, one we can overcome only with the generosity of our friends and donors. Your support will knock down barriers between students in East County and the health services they need to learn, grow, and simply be kids.
Click here to make a gift in support of East County students and families today.
