The Student Based Health Center built at the north entrance of Benson has remained empty since its completion last year, and students have been questioning its delay.
The health center was built as an addition to the Benson community as a whole. It is meant to provide an accessible healthcare outlet to students and people in the community.
“I feel like there are so many things we could do to better support our community of students and their families once we know what the needs of Benson families look like,” said curriculum specialist Angela Johanek.
To answer the question, the health center has been held back due to safety and technical issues. The new wing did not have systems in place for the school intercom, nor did it share any alarms with the rest of the building.
“It was open for a week and a half during July where we conducted physicals, and then the air conditioning unit broke,” Principal Melinda Bailey said. “OPS construction is cleaning up, just little things that Charles Drew needed done.”
Besides the construction and system issues, the rest of the project seems ready for launch.
Charles Drew health center, Project Harmony and Methodist have all the staff for Benson’s health center in place and Bailey expects it all to be operational near the end of October the start of November.
“Students should expect that they and their families will be able to make appointments in the health center,” said Bailey. “That our nurse can make referrals; vaccinations can occur in the health center if we have students that are not compliant with their vaccinations. It should be a fully functional mental and physical health facility.”
People can also expect access to dental checks and sports physicals. Charles Drew will also have a multilingual help desk to assist people of all backgrounds in the area.
As the project nears operational status, some might look back on the progress Benson has made.
“It’s frustrating at times,” said Johanek. “However, each time I feel that way, I have to remember that just a year ago this was a dream and not a reality. It had been a building wide rumor, myth and legend for close to ten years before we made it this far and reminds me how far we’ve really come and what we were able to accomplish.”
