ANDOVER – Members of the Pymatuning Valley community came to the Veterans Memorial Performing Arts Center at Pymatuning Valley High School Thursday evening, Jan. 29, to ask questions and offer their opinions on a proposed primary care clinic to be located on campus and operated by the Ashtabula Regional Medical Center.
Christopher Edison, PV superintendent, and Jacqui Catrabone, director of nonprofit and community services, Strategy Solutions Inc., led the discussion.
Edison said the session was to gauge demand for the clinic and how it would best serve the community.
He pointed to a lack of quality healthcare in the Andover area and how parents with sick children are having to pull them out of school if they fall ill in class, then keep them out an entire second day to drive them to an appointment – often to Geauga or Lake County – and often use the trip to do shopping or handle other family needs while they’re out.
Concerns voiced on social media about the possible risks of having a primary care clinic located on campus are well-intentioned, but misguided, according to Edison, who said the clinic, if built, would be separated from student and staff areas, patients would have to be buzzed in by ARMC staff and students couldn’t be seen by an ARMC provider without parental permission.
Access to care in the Andover/PV area has been a serious concern for residents since University Hospitals shuttered its Andover emergency room in early 2020. While Sharon Regional Health System reopened in March 2025, Insight Hospital & Medical Center in Warren surrendered its license Jan. 22, 2026.
Many of the nearest primary care providers and pediatricians are located at UH Geauga and UH Lake West medical centers – 50 and 65 minutes from Andover by car, respectively; as well as UH Madison Health Center (a 48-minute drive from Andover) or ARMC (a 30-minute drive).
Catrabone said the feasibility study is just to gauge need and appetite for the clinic, and that many questions about staffing, hours of operation and services provided will be determined by ARMC during the planning phase.
After the survey period ends on Friday, Feb. 6, Strategy Solutions Inc. will go to ARMC to judge the level of need and interest, then the hospital can apply for a planning grant. This process could take anywhere from a year to three years, according to Catrabone.
The survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ARMCschoolbasedclinic until Friday, Feb. 6
Edison said a realistic estimate for the clinic’s opening would be during the 2027-2028 school year, at the earliest.
Attendees raised access to care, distance to providers from the community, preventive care, urgent care, eye, dental, mental health and emergency care as things they’d like to see in the area.
Whether the clinic is sustainable would be handled during the planning phase and based on business conditions by ARMC, according to Catrabone.
Edison said the district would provide the clinic with space and utilities, but supplies and payroll would be paid by ARMC. There would be no added cost to the district, nor would it receive any revenue from the clinic.
Any safety problems would be address by the on-campus school resource officer, according to Edison, who reiterated that the clinic would be locked off from the rest of campus and all doors and windows would be reinforced with a high-performance, tear-resistant film that holds shattered glass together to protect against flying shards from impacts or blasts, delaying forced entry and mitigating injuries.
Student and staff safety are “nonnegotiable,” Edison said.
One resident raised the question as to whether or not students could book their own appointments, particularly as it regards access to contraception. Catrabone said students cannot be seen by a provider without permission from a parent or guardian unless they are 18 or older.
In response to the question why the clinic should be at the school versus at the old UH emergency room, Edison said that was a condition of the feasibility study grant from the Ohio Department of Health. Catrabone said ARMC could conceivably make the decision to use the former UH facility if there was enough need to merit that course of action.
Edison said the clinic would serve students primarily, with other community members welcome to make appointments as well. The advantage would be that a student who fell ill in class could be seen by the school nurse, who could contact a parent, then make an appointment with a provider.
The district also has two telehealth consoles that would allow parents to “remote in” and attend their child’s appointment virtually, cutting down on lost classroom time for students and work time for parents.
ARMC operates a similar clinic in Ashtabula Area City Schools, though that one is solely pediatrics, as there is better access to various clinics and doctor’s offices in and around the city, according to Edison.
