PARKERSBURG - Officials will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to unveil Parkersburg South High School's new school-based health center.
The center will hold an open house from 9 a.m.-noon Tuesday. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Refreshments will be provided and free flu shots will be provided for the first 50 attendees who request them.
Sponsored by Ritchie Regional Health Center, the new health center will provide students and school staff with primary care services on site, so students miss fewer days of school, employees miss fewer days of work and parents or guardians do not have to leave work to take sick children home.
Services are provided to students who return completed parental permission slips. The center can serve as the child's medical home, or can work in conjunction with his or her primary care provider to coordinate services.
No child with parental permission will be turned away from care, regardless of their family's ability to pay.
The open house event is part of a statewide campaign to raise awareness about the work school-based health centers provide to keep West Virginia's students healthy, and ready to learn.
The center at Parkersburg South is the 70th center in the state and the second opened in Wood County. The first local school-based health center is located on the campus of Jefferson Elementary Center.
For more information on school-based health centers in West Virginia, visit the West Virginia School-Based Health Assembly's website at www.wvsbha.org.
