Crafting Creative Solutions for Licking County Health Care

Todd Yarrington

Innovative providers are turning bright ideas into new approaches to make Licking County health care more accessible. 

Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center 

BHP of Central Ohio, the area’s largest mental health and addiction services provider, opened its first behavioral health urgent care center in 2021. 

“Folks can just walk in and get the same level of care you would expect from an urgent care,” says Dr. Kathryn St. James, president and CEO. “No appointment – we are really open to meeting people where they are.” 

So when CareSource, a Medicaid managed care plan, asked how it could support BHP, St. James told them she’d really like to put wheels on the urgent cares. 

“They fully funded us to create the BHP Mobile Care Now Clinic, launched in August 2024,” she says. 

The custom 25-foot van, with space for a counselor and nurse practitioner, travels to businesses, churches, schools or anywhere there is a need. BHP’s website lists the clinic’s location on a given day, and any organization can request a visit. 

While the reasons might vary, St. James says, the common element is the desire to make mental health and addiction care easily accessible for whoever is their constituency. 

“Everyone who comes in gets the same level of care,” she says. “Somebody who is going to talk with you and understand your concerns.” 

St. James emphasizes the importance of removing barriers to treatment. 

“Most of us, at some point in our lives, will experience disruption to our mental health,” she says. “BHP is here to help, and to make sure getting care is easy and accessible. We turn no one away because of the ability to pay. If you walk in our door, you’re going to get help.” 

Licking Memorial Health

School-Based Health Center

To improve the health of its community, Licking Memorial Health Systems worked with Licking Heights Local School District to open its first school-based health center – Licking Memorial Health Center at Licking Heights – in 2023. 

“The facility transforms how care is delivered to the community, students and the school system,” says Rob Montagnese, LMHS president and CEO. “The providers can assist in promoting and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits and provide needed care in a convenient location for students, families, staff and the community.” 

The health center provides preventive care including sports physicals, vaccinations and screenings, as well as sick visits, chronic disease management and teen health. 

“Parents appreciate the convenience of having health care services available at the school,” Montagnese says, “which reduces their need to take time off from work to take children to appointments. Because of the quick and easy access to appointments, more people are beginning to utilize the health center for acute diagnoses instead of going to urgent care.” 

A Youth Advisory Council shares perspectives about health topics, builds connections and cultivates skills, which Montagnese says brings youth leadership to the forefront of school-based health care. He says the health center has been an effective strategy to ensure students stay in school and are healthy and ready to learn, and the school’s diversity allows the health center to serve a wide range of needs within the greater community. 

Event Medical Staffing

Providing Health Care at Events

Eric Burgess, a paramedic, founded Event Medical Staffing of Ohio in 2019 with his wife, M.J. They employ nearly 30 people – primarily part-time paramedics, EMTs and nurses – plus a medical director, to provide experienced medical and safety staff for all types of events. 

Burgess says they support events of all sizes, from small art gallery openings or local sporting events to major performances with crowds of 40,000. He says the variety of opportunities has been a real plus for his staff. 

“We get to see a lot of cool stuff, like concerts or movie sets,” he says. 

The team’s work starts at the planning stage, to help clients understand the specific services needed. Larger events can include medical tents or a climate-controlled mobile trailer for patient care. 

“We have an ambulance and cardiac monitors,” Burgess says. “We can provide pharmaceuticals and full-advanced life support. We can treat people with the same services 9-1-1 provides when an ambulance is sent out.” 

Beyond the events, they also offer training in CPR, first aid and advanced cardiac life support, and babysitting certification classes for teens. 

“We provide a very well-rounded service to our clients,” Burgess says. “We’ve been able to grow and meet the needs of the community and our clients, and that has been pretty satisfying.”