Lewis and Clark Family Health Clinic Closing in June

GODFREY – Lewis and Clark Community College is announcing that its on-campus Family Health Clinic will close its doors this June, after 15 years of serving the campus and greater community.

The move will become official once approved by the college’s Board of Trustees at their regular meeting in February, but the clinic will continue its operations through the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 2023.

Ongoing, the college will retain a full-time registered nurse to continue providing first aid and basic health services to the campus, both of which were offered prior to the clinic’s opening.

“This decision was not an easy one, given the tremendous impact our clinic and its caring staff have had on our campus and our community since 2008,” said L&C President Ken Trzaska. “The college has spent a great deal of time evaluating the current clinic model over the past two years. The combination of feedback from student and team member surveys, the impacts from growing costs to operate the clinic, the lack of available grant funding to support clinic operations, and the increasing need to support mental health and other student services on campus have all weighed heavily into our decision.”

Trzaska said multiple other factors contributed as well, including decreased on-campus and community traffic to the clinic, more local competition from nearby clinics, and financial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The college originally opened the L&C Family Health Clinic in 2008 with federal grant funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The clinic served both the campus and greater communities, providing ongoing acute care and referral services for patients across the college’s district, and collaborating with area health departments, non-profit organizations and educational partners. The clinic also served as an intercollaborative practice clinical site for L&C health science students, and has provided pre-employment screenings, program testing and screenings, lab draws, chronic care and physicals.

Following the loss of grant funding in 2018, the college continued to cover the cost of clinic operations to keep services available. More recently, Lewis and Clark attempted to work with a neighboring university and held numerous meetings with other healthcare agencies in the community to discuss cost-sharing models, but no agreeable solution could be found.

“Although our end-goal in all reorganizational efforts is focused on how to best serve our students, there are positive financial impacts for the college as well,” said Vice President of Administration Lori Artis. “Savings realized from this reorganization will provide the college with approximately $335,000, to be deployed in support of other direct student services.”

Patients who have questions or would like to obtain copies of their health records from the clinic can either call the clinic directly at (618) 468-6800, email the clinic at npnmc@lc.edu or visit the college website at the Family Health Clinic Records page to obtain the release of records form.