Gresham-Barlow Student Health Center

This school-based health center will provide students with easy access to medical and behavioral services.

School-based health centers (SBHC) provide age-appropriate health care conveniently located at or near schools. Along with primary care, services can include chronic illness management (i.e., asthma, diabetes), sports physicals, preventive care, immunizations, vision screenings, and mental and behavioral health care. Research shows SBHCs increase class attendance, reduce school dropout rates, improve academic success, and reduce emergency room visits.¹,²

Our work on Gresham-Barlow School District’s new, ground-up student health center combined our K-12 and heath-care design experience. The architecture team led stakeholders through a series of planning sessions that identified priorities for the new building’s design. In addition to the district, those stakeholders included the Oregon School-Based Health Alliance and Wallace Medical Concern, the nonprofit medical provider.

The final design program includes three exam rooms, behavioral health space, a laboratory, staff areas, and a reception/waiting room. Thoughtful space planning considers operational efficiency and patient privacy while using just 2,400 square feet to meet a variety of service needs. The design team placed the exam rooms away from the busy street to create privacy for patient care. A courtyard on the building’s south end creates a calming respite space.

Our interior materials selections include durable finishes that can withstand the demands of daily use and medical-grade cleaning. We balanced these functional health-care requirements with biophilic design elements, such as soothing colors, natural light, and wood-inspired finishes to support students’ sense of well-being when seeking care.

Financed entirely through legislative requests, the Gresham-Barlow Student Health Center is an example of our successful, proactive approach to grant funding support, project cost control, and schedule adherence.

To learn more about SBHCs, please visit the School-Based Health Alliance.

1. CG-SBHC – The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide). Social determinants of health: School-based health centers (SBHCs). 2015. ↩︎
2. Keeton 2012 – Keeton V, Soleimanpour S, Brindis CD. School-based health centers in an era of health care reform: Building on history. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care. 2012;42(6):132-156. ↩︎