Omaha high school to offer a variety of medical care with new $6.6 million addition

OMAHA -- Benson High School will soon receive a face-lift in order to bring crucial health care services to students, staff and the community.

The school is nearing the start of a $6.6 million construction project, which includes a two-story health care addition and renovated north entrance.

Omaha Public Schools officials say this will be the first school-based clinic in the district to house several multiple health providers.

The Charles Drew Health Center, Methodist Health, Project Harmony and the University of Nebraska Medical Center are splitting the 10,000-square-foot space that will serve both the school and the Benson neighborhood. Students will be able to receive low-cost or free services depending on the provider, according to the district.

“It’s easier for many parents to have those services at the end of the school day or the beginning of the school day,” said Charles Wakefield, chief operations officer for OPS. “They’re there anyway, so it’s kind of tying that together to make it as easy as possible for families. It’s also a place our students trust as well — it’s not some nondescript building out in a neighborhood that they’re nervous about.”

The Benson High addition begins with a glass-paneled, modern north entrance. The building will have a plaza area with sculptural seating that also can be used for outdoor instruction.

A 2,500-square-foot Charles Drew Medical Clinic, featuring mostly dental services, will be on the first floor. It will have two dental bays, three exam rooms and a learning space, which will be shared among the school and all four providers.

A large stairway in the main entrance leads to the second floor, which includes offices for Methodist, Project Harmony and UNMC, a shared break room and another learning space.

Community members, staff and students will be able to access family therapy, teacher training and student training — such as parenting classes — through Methodist. Project Harmony, a resource for child abuse services and training, will offer mental health and therapy sessions.

As part of Benson’s health professions academy, UNMC will manage student-led public health initiatives and student research projects.

“Students will be kind of interacting and learn what real health professionals saving lives is like. It will help them understand what that is as they transition through college to grow,” Wakefield said.

The OPS board approved the project at a Nov. 28 meeting. Construction is planned to begin this summer and has a completion date of September 2024.

The idea to bring more services to Benson High started with two alumni: Paul Brown and his wife, Djel Ann Brown, both from the class of 1958.

Brown said the pair, along with other alumni, noticed throughout the years that Benson students weren’t able to access health care as easily as other school communities.

“It was obviously something that was a very intense need in the school, so we set about fundraising, and we solicited our classmates, first of all, and then we were able to get some some major donations,” Brown said.

Brown and other classmates formed the Benson Foundation in 2019 and eventually raised $300,000 for the project. But it wasn’t enough and planning stalled.

“We began reducing the size of the addition to try to make it a feasible objective. And while we were going through those revisions, I got a call from Superintendent (Cheryl Logan),” Brown said. “She said, ‘We would like to have the school district partner with you in developing that health care center.’”

Along with the foundation’s money, the district will be using federal COVID-19 dollars to fund the project.

“It’s a way to give back, and it’s just very fulfilling to be able to see these things happening,” Brown said.