ZANESVILLE, Ohio-Zanesville and Maysville high schools are set to establish health clinics within their buildings, thanks to Appalachian Community Grants. Maysville received $283,000, while Zanesville received $1.3 million for this initiative. Each clinic will have medical, dental, and women’s health services, staffed with a nurse practitioner, an LPN, and a mental health specialist. The integration of these clinics into the school buildings aims to eliminate barriers to healthcare access, benefiting both students and staff.
The clinics, functioning essentially as urgent care facilities, aim to improve overall physical and mental health outcomes and enhance attendance rates. The Appalachian Community Grant Program, initiated by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, allocated $500 million to transform communities in Ohio’s 32-county Appalachian region. The clinics are part of the Appalachian Children’s Health Initiative, a more than $64 million investment, aiming to improve healthcare access across 20 Appalachian counties in Ohio, representing the largest investment in school-based health services in the state.
