Madigan Army Medical Center is taking its services out into the community. More specifically, members of the Adolescent Medicine Division are heading into local schools that boast large military student populations.

The school-based clinics, which are now available at Lakes High School within the Clover Park School District and both Steilacoom High School and Pioneer Middle School in the Steilacoom Historical School District, are intended to help parents and students by proving easier access to health services.

Dependent teenagers who are enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) are eligible to take part in the Madigan school-based health centers, whether they are part of an active-duty or retiree military family. Students can be seen for acute, minor and chronic illnesses, sport physicals, immunizations, and to manage long-term medications such as those for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, asthma and allergies. In addition, students can access counseling for behavioral health concerns, as well as laboratory and basic pharmacy services.

"We can make room for acute issues the days we are on site, but normally we can see patients within a week. The access is very good right now," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Keith Lemmon, Madigan's Adolescent Medicine Division chief, who heads the program.

According to Lemmon, there are 1,200 eligible kids at those three schools alone and 8,200 adolescents (aged 11 to 18 years) in the Madigan system.

"This plan means that teens do not have to miss school or find doctors who are open after hours, which are hurdles in the way of them receiving care," said Lemmon, who started working at Madigan in 2007. "In fact, parents are not required to come, so long as they complete the consent forms beforehand. The doctors call parents at the end of the visit to summarize what transpired."

Lemmon has been working on putting this plan into action since 2010 and finally got approval last year to begin the pilot program - which was very successful.

"My goal and vision, as the founder and director, is to add additional schools .. but of course that is based on funding," he said.

Although X-rays are not possible at the school-based clinics, there is a point of care lab available for routine testing and there is also a pharmacy stocked with a small formulary, to include acne medication, basic antibiotics and cold medications.

"It minimizes the time spent overall," explained Lemmon. "There's no pharmacy wait, no circling the parking lot for a spot and no waiting for a turn in the lab."

In fact, efficiency is valued; the average appointment at a school-based clinic is just 30 minutes, meaning the students miss less school. And, while 15 percent of the appointments booked for adolescents at Madigan are no-shows, the rate is zero percent at the school-based clinics because patients can be located and redirected to the clinic if they don't show up. There are usually 8-10 patients per morning, as well as 4-6 immunization appointments.

"One of the principals called the classroom is ‘the waiting room', which I liked," said Lemmon.

Parents can download consent forms online and appointments can be booked by calling the Adolescent Medicine front desk at 253.968.1980.

The school-based health center at Lakes High School is open from 8-11:30 a.m. every Wednesday. Visit www.cloverpark.k12.wa.us/Admin/MilitaryFamilies.aspx for more details. Pioneer Middle School is open from 8-11:30 a.m. every Tuesday and Steilacoom High School is open 8-11:30 a.m. every Thursday. Visit www.steilacoom.k12.wa.us/domain/444 for more information.