Laura Kennedy examining a member of Lola Chavarria’s family at the Rusk Clinic

The Rusk Clinic sustains good health – and sometimes life – for families who can’t afford medical care. Located at Rusk Elementary School just east of downtown Houston, the clinic provides a full array of services at no cost to children up to age 18. Most often, the children attend school at Rusk or live in the neighborhood. However, the clinic also accepts children who live in nearby homeless shelters or whose families simply don’t have the resources to help them.

Executive Director Laura Kennedy explains, "Everything is paid for through grants and a lot of in-kind donations. The dental clinic is run by The University of Texas, optometry by University of Houston School of Optometry, the medical clinic by Memorial Hermann, mental health services are provided through Mental Health Mental Retardation Association and we recently got some help from Baylor Child Psychiatry to implement a program that helps teachers learn how to deal with problem behavior in the classroom."

Since it began five years ago, the Rusk School Health Promotion Project has become an indispensable resource for those who have little or no access to a doctor’s care. Ms. Kennedy explains, "We have people who are Medicaid-eligible, but because of the system and the way they’re treated, it’s difficult for them to get through. Once they do, a working mother at an hourly job has to take a day off to go to a clinic. She has to take all the kids out of school because it’s first-come, first-served, so it may be five or six o’clock in the evening before they’re seen. She’s lost a day of work and wages, and the children have lost a day of school. At Rusk, a child can leave class for 30 minutes, maybe an hour, to go to the dentist, to go to the doctor. This makes a huge difference."

In addition to keeping children healthy, the clinic also saves lives. "A high school boy named Edgar Chavarria came in complaining of blurred vision. The optometry clinic found hemorrhages in his retina," Ms. Kennedy recounts. "Within 24 hours, he was admitted into Texas Children’s Hospital and started on therapy for leukemia. He’s been in remission for close to two years now."

Mr. Chavarria’s sister, Lola Chavarria, says, "The people at Rusk were the first ones to find out. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t know. When we didn’t understand things, we came over and asked Ms. K., and she helped us. She called the hospital and talked with the doctors. She gave us pamphlets and helped us understand what to expect, how he was going to behave on certain medications. She told Edgar not to be afraid, that if he needed anything everyone at Rusk was there to help him."

Almost everyone in Mr. and Ms. Chavarria’s extended family has received help from the clinic, including an aunt who was diagnosed with diabetes at a community health fair. Even though the clinic does not treat adults, Ms. Kennedy explains, "We provide community health education for parents and adults and show teachers how to teach health lessons.

"When we held a health program in the neighborhood park, the guest nutritionists were surprised when we asked the kids, ‘What’s in an orange?’ and they yelled back, ‘Fiber!’ ‘Vitamin C!’ They asked the kids where they learned that. They said, ‘At the Rusk Clinic.’"

Ms. Chavarria adds, "Rusk does so much for the community by reaching out. We’re very grateful for that and everything they have done for our family."

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