Beth-El faculty, students to operate downtown clinic

Nursing faculty and students at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs will operate a health clinic for City of Colorado Springs employees with the goal of treating patients with illness, improving wellness and lowering health insurance claims.

Nancy Smith, dean, Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences, worked with city officials to create and operate a clinic designed to assist with acute and episodic health care needs of employees as well as assisting with wellness promotion including such common issues as weight loss and smoking cessation. The clinic will also assist employees with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

“We are pleased to work with municipal employees to both improve how they feel and to lower health care costs,” Smith said. “We believe this effort will have both long- and short-term benefits for city employees.”

As planned, the nurse practitioners assigned to the clinic will include Beth-El nursing faculty members as well as students from the Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. The clinic provides the students with experience under faculty supervision while providing employees a convenient, low-cost alternative to visits to physician offices. The nurse practitioners will provide referrals as necessary and assist employees in understanding city-sponsored medical plans.

The clinic will operate 40 hours weekly and will be based at the City of Colorado Springs Administration Building, 30 S. Nevada. The clinic will open Feb. 23.

Previously, Beth-El faculty operated a wellness clinic for employees of El Paso County. In December, UCCS announced plans to not renew its contract. Many of the university faculty and staff members who worked at the county-sponsored clinic will now work for the city-sponsored clinic.