North Penn School Board Oks Design Stage for In-House Health Clinic & Pharmacy for Employees and Families

Tony Di Domizio•

An in-house health clinic based at Penndale Middle School that will serve North Penn School District employees and their families, and possibly even students, this year with low-cost health services is now in the contractual design stage, following a vote Thursday night by the North Penn School Board.

Contrary to what was published in other local media, the school board approved a $71,260 design contract with SchraderGroup for a 3,500-square-foot pre-manufactured building at the school, along Penn Street between the existing school and the north parking lot, set back 100 feet from the road. The project is expected to be completed by August 2022, per the contract proposal. The former WNPV property was eyed as the initial location for the clinic, but, in the end, Penndale was chosen as the site.

All in all, the construction costs are estimated at $800,000. The design contract is broken down into $15,760 for structural engineering tasks, $15,000 for civil engineering costs, and $40,500 for the land development approval process.

In December, district Director of Operations Tom Schneider told the board that the facilities and operations committee did not see the contract, and rushed it for approval to make it in time for the Lansdale Borough February planning commission meeting, per a report.

At an operating cost of about $40,000 a month over four years, Colorado-based Everside Health will oversee the clinic, staffing it with two full-time employees, which would be a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, and a registered nurse. The clinic, which began as a concept in October 2020, would be open normal workday hours. A similar in-house clinic is underway in the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit. North Penn School District is looking at possible long-term savings by providing local health services, per the report.

District CFO Steve Skrocki told the board that Everside Health was vetted with three interviews, three presentations, nine reference checks, multiple site visits and contract reviews. The thumbs up for the in-house clinic was given by teacher union vice president Ted Trissler and district support personnel union head Dana Koch, per the report, with Trissler calling it a “win-win” for employees and giving the district “nice financial savings.”

Skrocki said the clinic would have generic prescription medications available to its members, like Z-Pak or other prescription.

The district is expected to get back $400,000 of the $800,000 construction cost via grants, and looks to apply $300,000 toward construction from the district health care fund.