Cy-Fair ISD will pioneer a new school-based health care facility when the district’s 11th high school opens in fall 2016. Trustees approved a recommendation May 11 to partner with Good Neighbor Healthcare to build a stand-alone facility at the school site off FM 529 and Westgreen Boulevard The facility will reach underserved students in the district.

“If you look around High School No. 11, a few miles from this campus encompasses a student body population that is 75 percent economically disadvantaged,” Good Neighbor Healthcare representative Allen Ueckert said. “It’s a key area within Cy-Fair ISD to have a school-based clinic and a great site to reach as many students as we can who otherwise wouldn’t have access to health care.”

In 2013 there were about 2,000 school-based health centers across the U.S. offering a variety of services, such as primary care, mental health, health and nutrition education and case management, said Bevin Gordon, CFISD’s director of health services.

“The main goal is to increase access to quality health care to groups that are underserved,” she said.

Since Good Neighbor HealthCare already offers additional health care services at its Houston facility in the Heights, they will be available at CFISD’s center as well.

The clinic will be open year-round during the week and on Saturdays to provide optimal service for students and teachers, Ueckert said. Additionally plans are in the works to provide transportation services for students who attend other schools across the district to get to the clinic.

Good Neighbor Healthcare, which is a nonprofit and federally qualified health care center, will own and build the 10,000-square-foot facility at the site of High School No. 11. However the district will still own the property, CFISD’s legal counsel Marney Sims-Collins said.

“We are a community school district, and we reflect those values and ideals,” she said. “This is a neat opportunity. I think in 10 years people are going to be modeling this around the state and this is the first [of its kind]. We are proud to be part of this.”