2/5/24 news article
New wellness center opens at The Greater Dayton School
Center provides pediatric care, mental health support for students through partnership with Dayton Children’s
A Dayton-based school recently expanded its innovative approach when it opened an on-site clinic to meet its students’ needs.
The Connor Wellness Center began providing pediatric care, mental health care, dental services, vision care and various therapeutic services to students at The Greater Dayton School on February 12, 2024, through a partnership with Dayton Children’s Hospital. The Greater Dayton School (GDS), which opened in 2022 and recently moved to its new campus on Deeds Park Drive, is Ohio’s first private non-religious school exclusively for under-resourced students. It was conceived and funded by The Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, the non-profit arm of a local real estate investment firm.
“We’re not aware of another private school like ours in the country that has this type of resource on its campus exclusively for its students,” said Larry Connor, Connor Group managing partner. “But everything we do is student-focused and student-centered. The wellness center is a key component to helping our students achieve life-changing long-term outcomes.”
The opening of the center is the result of five years of planning between GDS and Dayton Children’s, and the two entities’ partnership provides students not just with health care services, but with scheduling them as well.
“This partnership is another way that we are reinventing the path to children’s health for families throughout our region,” says Deborah Feldman, president and CEO for Dayton Children’s. “Integrating into a school space allows health care to be more accessible for children and their families, all toward the goal of helping each child achieve their optimal health.”
Dayton Children’s has provided services to GDS students at various locations up to this point, and the partnership has helped create meaningful outcomes:
- Compared to their Medicaid-eligible peers in Montgomery County, GDS students are twice as likely to have an annual medical and dental checkup
- Almost four times as likely to be up to date on their vaccines.
