Corewell Health expands into Detroit with full-service school clinic

DETROIT (FOX 2) - For the first time ever, Corewell Health is expanding into Detroit.

The health care company opened an on-site health clinic inside Detroit Edison Public School Academy on Friday. 

"This clinic is going to offer a social worker for mental health therapy, it's going to offer a medical assistant, we’re able to do some lab work, and we offer a full-spectrum of medical care," said Leslie Meyer with Corewell Health in southeast Michigan.

The clinic will work to prevent, identify, and treat conditions that could interfere with student learning.

However, the clinic's services are also available to the community surrounding the school.

"This impact cannot just help families, but it will also help families that don’t even attend our school," said Ralph Bland, the CEO of Detroit Edison Public School Academy. "It will help students who don’t even attend our school." 

The clinic received funding from the state; it is an initiative that the Whitmer administration supports.

"We need to position them for both health and access to wealth and success through education," said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist during the ribbon-cutting on Friday.

Last summer, Detroit Public Schools Community District announced it was launching 12 health hub sites at DPSCD Schools. Healthcare providers for the hubs include Henry Ford Health and Ascension.

"There’s no better illustration of caring about the complete success of a young person than putting health resources directly in a place that they are required to go to every day," Gilchrist said.

According to Corewell Health, the Detroit Edison Public School Academy clinic is it’s ninth clinic that is school based.

"We know from our evidence-based programming and medical care that students who have their health addressed are better learners, they function better, their families do better," Meyer said.