Editor:
Sean Morgan did a great job relaying the details of the public meeting for the school-based health clinic held last week at Sweet Home High School.
What he didn’t share with you was the hostile attitude and sometimes rude comments made by the folks that oppose the school-based health clinic.
Why are they afraid of a free clinic positioned to help our youth? Because they are afraid that a student may come to request reproductive health services without their knowledge. When they were assured that this is not part of the services that the clinic would provide, they still didn’t want it because it might happen in the future.
The truth is that school-based health clinics have been around for 20 years in Oregon, and all but a few in the Portland area do not provide reproductive health services and have served their communities well.
An advisory group made up of parents, health professionals and students oversees the clinic and makes sure that it provides only what the community wants. Parents can have the option of sending in a form refusing to have their child served by the school-based clinic if that is what they prefer.
But those who oppose the clinic think they speak for the entire citizenry of Sweet Home and don’t want any of our youth accessing free medical care, which could greatly benefit those that don’t have insurance or possibly even gas money to drive to urgent care in Lebanon. A school-based health clinic in Sweet Home would go a long way in providing urgent care for our youth regardless of ability to pay.
Let’s let cooler heads prevail and give the school-based health clinic a chance.
Susan Kinney
Sweet Home