MIAMI – Miami Northwestern Senior High School is opening a new clinic that will be available to those in their community.
Seniors Sara St-Juste and Keno Tate said the clinic is helping them get a step closer to achieving their dreams of becoming doctors.
The students will work hand in hand with health care professionals at the new comprehensive Primary Care Clinic at the school.
"We get to see how life after high school will be in college with hands on experience, so I feel like it's truly a blessing," St-Juste said.
"Many kids in our community and our school don't have access to healthcare, so I'm looking forward to helping the school and helping the community together," Tate said.
Not only is it a learning environment, but the clinic is providing much-needed health services to the community.
The public will be able to come in and receive the same services a private doctor's office would provide them.
"This is innovative, it's creative. It's something this community needs (and) it's something that the students need," Annie Neasman, CEO and president of the Jessie Trice Community Health Center, said.
The clinic is a partnership between Florida International University's Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences along with the Jessie Trice Community Heath Center.
Graduate students from FIU and nurse practitioners from Jessie Trice will staff the clinic.
Like any clinic, patients will have to pay a co-pay, but no one will be turned away if they can't afford services.
"This is a godsend," Miami Dade Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. "It's a terrific gift to our community and we’re very proud of this partnership."
The clinic opens to patients on Saturday.