Find yourself wondering what that building is that seemingly popped up out of nowhere on the Elmira High School campus? It’s Orchid Health, a clinic dedicated to helping people in the Fern Ridge community get the health care they need.
The clinic offers services such as preventive care, including nutritional counseling, annual exams, and cancer and diabetes screenings. It offers overall health services such as physicals, family planning, sexual health, prenatal care, menopause, osteoporosis and heart health. In pediatric care, it provides wellness exams, immunizations, and sports and camp physicals. It also offers labs and diagnostic work, lice checks, and sexual education.
The clinic’s current hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It plans to increase its hours two days of the week for longer evening hours.
A behavioral health consultant is on site as well. A BHC works closely with the patient and their primary care provider. The consultant assists in creating a healthy lifestyle, such as changing eating and exercise habits, having better sleep schedules, and learning relaxation skills. The consultant also can aid in reflecting on harmful habits such as smoking and drugs, drinking, quick tempers, and more.
“There is a stigma out there that behavioral health services are only for those that have had traumatic life events, but the reality is, students can see our behavioral health clinician because they are having trouble focusing on their studies, maybe to talk to someone about the loss of a family member or friend, or because they were newly diagnosed with something like diabetes or another chronic illness and just need some help with coping skills,” clinic manager Bob Coliabanchi said.
The BHC also can help with stress, including sadness and loss including finding healthy coping mechanisms, and help you with applying self-care techniques. A BHC is not designed for patients in need of long-term care, but the clinic is looking into hiring a specialist who can offer long-term care services. Typically, a provider will see a student for only up to six visits per need that is identified.
Orchid Health wants to do what it can to help the students of the Fern Ridge School District as well, including any student inside Elmira, Veneta, Walton and Noti. Orchid Health accepts most kinds of insurance, and even if a person doesn’t have insurance, they will not be turned away.
There will be no out-of-pocket costs from Orchid Health, with the exception of any testing that might need to be done off site. Students ages 12 to 19 might be asked to complete a survey asking about their satisfaction with the services they received. They also might be asked general questions about their mental and physical health. Students are allowed to refuse to take the survey without affecting their ability to receive care.
Orchid Health offers telehealth services for students who may feel more comfortable speaking to a provider in their home or another location over the phone. Walk-ins and same-day appointments are welcome, but it is preferred that students make appointments to better manage the provider’s schedule.
The clinic also provides confidential visits for students who are above the age of consent for medical confidentiality if they don’t want anyone else involved in their care at that time. You must be at least 15 years old to consent to medical, dental and hospital care without the knowledge of a guardian; those who are age 14 can consent to behavioral health appointments.
The clinic understands that students may want to keep things confidential, but students are encouraged to talk to family members and friends. A means of contact needs to be set during a confidential visit in case the clinic needs to contact the patient. An explanation of benefits or lab results will never be sent home, phone calls will never be made, and all the contents of the appointment are kept in strict confidence.
A student does not need a counselor’s referral, but sometimes a counselor may be involved in the care of a particular student. If a student is requesting behavioral health services, they will need to sign a release of information that identifies what parts of the visit Orchid Health is allowed to share with school counselors. Appointments don’t need school involvement to be made, but if there is an appointment scheduled during school hours, Orchid Health will provide a letter for students to return to class.
There is much in store for Orchid Health, including the Youth Action Council. The council is made up of student representatives to help close the gap between the school and the clinic.
“We are wanting ideas on how to make the clinic more student friendly, set up programs and services geared towards their specific needs, and identify ways that we can really affect change and make a difference in student’s lives,” Colabianchi said.
Other projects Orchid Health provides include flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics as well as providing education on the vaccines for those with questions. The clinic hopes to reach out to the community and partner with the school on any ventures the clinic decides to be a part of. It recently had a meeting with the Growing a Future Farm crew about a partnership on the Produce Plus Program.
