Healthy and Safe at LA New facilities and expanded staff meet today’s needs A M ODERN F ACILITY FOR M ODERN T IMES

by Joe Sheppard

“We’re a lot busier than we used to be,” says school nurse Lisa Fei, commenting on students’ visits to the new Frigoletto Health Center, which opened in September on the LA South campus. Dr. Melinda Raboin, director of health services and the Academy’s first full-time physician, concurs: “We compared the number of visits we did in 2022 from September to December with the number of visits we did in the same period in ’23. And this school year, in that time, we had 400 more visits.”

Expanding on Lisa’s comment, Dr. Raboin, who came to Lawrence in 2018, recalled the difficult years of the pandemic. “COVID was a completely different beast. On the one hand, our individual visits seemed to drop because many thought ‘don’t come unless you have to…’ When COVID hit, our orientation to what we were doing changed. At Dana House, the former site of the Health Center, we had three beds in two rooms, connected by a middle room with a couch. So we had space for three or four people to lie down. They were all connected. There was very little privacy, and it was difficult to quarantine anyone. When COVID hit, we thought, how do we even function? That was an immediate need — to expand and be able to accommodate and serve more people safely. Even before my time, we were starting to outgrow Dana House.”

LA will not likely outgrow the new Frigoletto Health Center for some time. Located next to the campus safety office, the facility could be any town’s well-equipped urgent care center. Dr. Raboin’s spacious office adjoins a bright and sunny waiting room, nurses’ station, and two fully-equipped exam rooms. Consultation rooms and the office shared by the two school counselors are off to the left. Upstairs are five bedrooms for students who need to rest during the day or stay overnight, as well as a full bathroom. An additional bedroom is available for the staff member who stays whenever a student is sleeping over. Another half-dozen beds fill a large “overflow” bedroom. Though not originally part of the new Health Center plan, this overflow room has been utilized on several occasions when the Health Center has been extra busy this year.

Why is the Health Center “a lot busier” post-pandemic? A good part of the reason is that “demand increases to meet supply,” as Dr. Raboin puts it, paraphrasing

Assistant Head for Finance and Operations Bob Kramer. The Center is staffed all day, until 8:00 p.m.; a doctor, nurse (there are three nurses on staff), or counselor is available, with a nurse or Dr. Raboin on call, every night. “The nurses see most of the student visits, but I jump in when we are busy,” explains Dr. Raboin. “Additionally, when a physician-level visit is needed, I am available right then and there.”

“I like it. And I think it’s great for the kids,” she adds. When necessary, she can easily consult with the staff clinical psychologists. “I love it, because we collaborate all the time,” she notes.

Having a full-time physician at the Health Center is a boon to many parents, too, Dr. Raboin points out. “I think about it from a parent’s point of view. Whether they’re a boarder or a day student, a nurse or doctor is available at school, which helps busy parents,” she says. “We’ve also been able to offer more to staff and employees, who have been invited to use the Health Center as well. Hopefully we make things easier, more convenient for everyone.”