Chiricahua Community Health Centers Inc. was awarded a federal grant to build a Pediatric Center of Excellence in Douglas.

The site for the new facility, if approved by residents on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, will be the 15th Street School in west Douglas, a Spanish mission-style building that was built in 1902. It was closed in the early 1990s and has been sitting empty and abandoned since then. On Aug. 4, the Douglas Unified School District board voted to transfer the property to Chiricahua Community Health Centers for a “nominal fee,” to be renovated as the community’s new pediatric center. But because the building is on public land, the transfer must receive the community’s approval when voters go to the polls Nov 3.

“This federal grant money will allow us to provide the children of Douglas with access to top-quality health services, which is a wonderful opportunity for this community,” said Jennifer “Ginger” Ryan, founder and chief executive officer of Chiricahua Community Health Centers. “We have a pediatrician whose goal is to provide the same pediatric services in Douglas that are available at Harvard.”

If approved by Douglas school district voters, the old 15th Street School could be saved from demolition and find new life as a pediatric care center. (Photo submitted)

Currently, there are three pediatricians working for Chiricahua: Jonathan Lee-Melk, Stephen Lindstrom and April Alvarez-Corona.

“Jonathan has identified a panel of 180 special-needs children with all kinds of health problems,” Ryan said. “These health issues require the care of specialists, which is one of the services we want to provide for children in this area.”

The vision is to bring top medical specialists to Douglas so children can get the health care they need without having to travel long distances.

More than a clinic

As a pediatrician, Lee-Melk says the pediatric center and what it will mean for the children in Southeastern Arizona’s medically underserved areas “is the fulfillment of a dream.”

“This is going to be a center, which implies that it’s more encompassing than a clinic,” Lee-Melk said. “We’ll be providing the highest quality of health care by bringing pediatric-trained professionals to the community, along with providing care coordination for children with special health care needs.”

Lee-Melk’s vision is to supplement such badly needed ancillary services as physical, occupational and speech therapy. “We also plan to provide community outreach and prevention programs where we’ll be addressing different health issues, such as childhood obesity and diabetes.”

Along with enhancing health care and providing community outreach programs, Lee-Melk wants the center to be “a true partner for other community service organizations.”

Lee-Melk, who graduated from Cornell University Medical College in 2003, came to this area from Phoenix Children’s Hospital in 2006 and has worked for the Chiricahua community health system since.

“Chiricahua has given me an opportunity to pursue a dream,” the pediatrician said. “What I’m doing here is very different than what I experienced in metropolitan areas. Because we’re in a rural, medically underserved area, it’s very difficult at times to provide the care that a child really needs.”

Children often have to travel long distances to hospitals to receive specialty care, he said. “When we see children with health care needs that we can’t address locally, then that child has to go to Tucson or Phoenix. From there, we do our very best to get these children the help they need. We call colleagues and friends and ask them to do us favors on behalf of that child.”

Lee-Melk says there are a number of poverty-related challenges that families face in the Douglas area, such as the lack of reliable transportation and phones. At times, financial resources are so limited for some families, they barely meet their most basic needs.

“Another frustration is the lack of primary-care practitioners,” he added. “It’s a huge challenge for us. Sometimes, we’re just outnumbered. It seems there are always more children that need to be seen than we can handle.”

While 95 percent of the children that Lee-Melk sees have insurance, it’s typically in the form of emergency care. The Chiricahua health care system is federally funded, which means every child is seen, regardless of the family’s ability to pay for services.

Something special

Lee-Melk’s goal is for the center to become a medical and social welfare hub for children in the Douglas area.

“It’s something that would be very unique for a town this size and very special. What we’re trying to do here is to develop a pediatric center of excellence. But we’ll need the voters in Douglas to approve this on Nov. 3.”

After visiting the old school property and conducting an evaluation of the premises, architects and engineers have determined the building can be renovated into the pediatric center envisioned for the community.

If voters approve the plan, the old school building, which Ryan describes as “near and dear to the hearts of the people of Douglas,” will be saved from demolition. Chiricahua is proposing to restore the building’s exterior to as close to its original appearance as possible.

“We’ll be saving a historical landmark while providing the west Douglas community with this amazing gift,” Ryan said. “We’ll be transforming a building that was designed for the education of children to one that focuses on quality health care for children.”

Voters may save old school

If voters agree to transfer ownership of the old 15th Street School in Douglas to Chiricahua Community Health Centers Inc. to create a Pediatric Center of Excellence, the building will be saved from demolition.

Chiricahua offers the following information about the proposed pediatric center:

• The mission-style school will be as closely restored to its original exterior appearance as possible.

• The interior will be completely remodeled to house pediatric exam rooms, pediatrician offices, a therapy/play room, a parent room, a meeting room and offices for visiting specialists, to name a few.

• Chiricahua has been awarded $1.2 million in federal stimulus money in the form of two American Reinvestment and Recovery Act grants, which will be used for the remodeling project. One is a Capital Improvement Project grant for $846,785 and the other is IDF funding in the amount of $426,791.