GILROY—For the first time, a private health clinic will operate on a public school campus in Gilroy and will be open to anyone who needs medical help, including walk-ins from the community.
Gilroy Unified School District trustees approved an agreement for Foothill Community Health Center to open a clinic at Glen View Elementary School on Eighth Street, two blocks from Gilroy High School.
“We are very excited about this and think it will serve a huge need,” Gilroy schools superintendent Debbie Flores said. “Establishing a health clinic is new to us, it’s unique,” she said.
Javier Esquivel, associate medical director of the non-profit health firm, said he expects to open the clinic doors by the end of August after receiving necessary permits from the city and all the required licenses.
“We are happy about it,” he said, adding being on campus will help cut down on classroom time students lose when they don’t feel well.
The firm operates 12 clinics in the region, including five in high schools in East San Jose and one that opened in April next door to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
The clinic at Glen View will accept patients with or without medical insurance and a regular exam will cost no more than $40, Esquivel said.
It will be open initially for 20 hours per week and will offer family practice, dental and mental/behavior health services, he said.
Initially the firm wanted to open in a Gilroy high school but the school board turned down that idea earlier this year because there is no space at Gilroy or Christopher high schools, Flores said.
She said locating a clinic at Glen View has been a long-time wish of its principal, Corina Sapien, who is thrilled about seeing a dream come true for her students and the neighborhood.
“It’s going to be open to the whole community, even our teachers can take advantage,” Sapien said.
“And it will be in a place on the campus that is kind of private with a private entrance that is shielded from the general public, a really ideal location; we are excited, it’s going to be great,” said Sapien, who has been Glen View’s principal for five years. The 590-student school has 24 teachers, 30 support staff and 26 classrooms and recently underwent a $6 million renovation and modernization.
The school is in an area of high poverty, with upwards of 90 percent of students on the free or reduced cost lunch program, Sapien said, adding that adults and students in the neighborhood all will benefit from easier access to health care.
“Many of our families can’t afford health care, especially adults. I have had children who walk around with cavities and pain in their mouth, I am hoping we can put an end to those kinds of things.”
The clinic will open in two of four empty portable classrooms on the campus, a total of around 1,750 square feet, according to the school district and Esquivel.
Within two blocks of Gilroy High School and near the Eliot Elementary School attendance area, Flores said the Glen View clinic will draw students and families, from both those schools.
The Foothill clinic group’s website indicates it sees “all patients, regardless of their ability to pay…because of money we get from the federal government.”
It also notes the following for its clinics: appointments are encouraged but not needed; evening hours Mon.-Fri. until 10 p.m., open Saturdays and Sundays;
patients are seen regardless of whether they can pay the same day; clinics have obstetrics-gynecologist specialists and pediatricians; referrals to specialists if needed; and doctors who speak Spanish and Vietnamese.
At Glen View, the clinic will be able to refer patients to medical specialists but will, at least initially, focus on a family medicine practice, dentistry and behavioral health, Esquivel said.
Although the clinic will serve students and adults from the community, the service delivery areas will be separated, according to Flores.
“We cannot have a children’s clinic (mixed) with community member (patients),” she said.
