GURDON, AR - It has all of the functions of a doctor's office, it's just inside a school.
"The Wellness Center is opening an access to care that wasn't available to them in the past," said Nurse Practitioner June Wolfe.
The Gurdon School District's new Wellness Center enables medical professionals to check students' health as the school day goes on just down the hall from class.
Some students in the district have never even had a physical until now.
"They didn't have the means either transportation wise or even the gas money at times to get their children just to even their wellness exams," said Wolfe.
Last year, Gurdon sophomore Montel Williams collapsed and died from an undetected heart condition in football practice.
Although parents know not all ailments are preventable, they say the Wellness Center is an enormous help for students in the rural district.
"Every parent wants to keep their kids healthy and you might not always have the opportunity to do that so this helps definitely provides that opportunity to be able to have your kids come to the doctor to get checked," said mother of three Kelly Cox.
"We have to get these students ready for college and careers and to do that we have to go that extra step to make sure were taking care of that whole child," said High School Principal Tommie Campbell.
The Wellness Center will eventually add both a dentist and an optometrist to the staff as well. Even if you don't have insurance, the physicians there will still see your student free of charge.
To pay for the center, the district was awarded a federal grant as part of a push to create healthy schools in Arkansas. The entire facility cost close to half a million dollars.
