Students and staff at Huntington Local Schools no longer have to leave campus for a checkup, a flu shot, or a mental health appointment. Adena Health dedicated a new school-based health clinic on the district's Ross County campus on Thursday, adding primary care, immunizations, and mental health services directly onto school grounds.
The clinic, named the Huntsmen Clinic after the district's mascot, is one of five school-based health centers Adena Health is building across Ross County with support from a 2024 state grant, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian. That grant, part of the $64 million Appalachian Children's Health Initiative awarded by Governor Mike DeWine in March 2024, is being administered by Nationwide Children's Hospital on behalf of the Appalachian Children's Coalition, funding 28 projects across 20 Appalachian Ohio counties and touching an estimated 61,000 students and 375,000 local residents statewide.
Alongside the Huntington site, the same 2024 funding round backed clinics at the Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center, Chillicothe City School District, Union-Scioto School District and Adena Local School District, rounding out Adena's five-school rollout across the county. Adena Health first opened a school-based clinic in 2019 at Jackson Middle School, after two decades of running mobile health clinics and athletic training programs in area schools, the report notes.
What the Clinic Offers Students and Staff
The Huntsmen Clinic provides physicals, immunizations, primary and preventive care, chronic condition management for issues like asthma and diabetes, and mental health services, working alongside families and the school nurse rather than replacing them. Pete Ruby said the new clinic removes a barrier many families face in getting routine care, adding that access to care can sometimes be challenging in the region. Adena Health said keeping care close to home is central to its mission around school-based health.
Federal dollars covered most of the project. The clinic received a federal financial assistance award totaling $408,404, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funding 76% of that award and Ohio state general revenue funding covering the remaining 24%, per the same report.
A Fast-Growing Network Across Southern Ohio
Adena's school-based health network now spans 12 districts, according to Adena, serving more than 25,000 students and 4,000 staff members. The health system has expanded the program as demand for on-site student care has grown, the article states. In October 2025, Adena dedicated the first of its planned Ross County clinics at the Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center ahead of the Chillicothe, Huntington, Unioto and Adena Local sites.
The push into schools reflects broader gaps in rural health access across the region. A March 2024 policy report from the Cicero Institute found that 57 of Ohio's 88 counties are designated Health Professional Shortage Areas, with 71.3% of rural and Appalachian Ohio residents reporting inadequate access to healthcare and more than a fifth traveling at least 20 miles or 50 minutes for medical appointments. Huntington Local Schools relies on state funding for roughly 74% of its overall operating budget under Ohio's Fair School Funding Plan, a reflection of low local property tax values and lower average household incomes, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
Companion Projects and Regional Momentum
Adena Health and Adena Local Schools broke ground in September 2024 on a separate, larger project: the $10.5 million Warrior Wellness Center in Frankfort, a 19,000-square-foot complex that will include a 2,000-square-foot primary health clinic, behavioral health offices, a community walking track and a new pharmacy meant to resolve a local pharmacy desert. The first school-based health center completed under the statewide initiative opened in August 2024 at Maysville Local School District near Zanesville through a $283,500 grant, per Nationwide Children's Hospital, giving a sense of how quickly these grant-funded clinics have spread across Appalachian Ohio.
Mental health support in particular has gotten a regional boost. In August 2025, the Joe Burrow Foundation and Nationwide Children's Hospital launched the Burrow Blueprint, a training and consulting framework operating across 20 Appalachian Ohio school districts that gives school-based primary care teams specialized tools to treat conditions like anxiety, depression and ADHD, as reported by the Scioto Valley Guardian. Outcome data published by Nationwide Children's Hospital in 2026 found that 97% of behavioral health concerns presenting at partner school-based health centers were managed on-site by primary care staff without a specialist referral, cutting regional psychiatric wait times by four months.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Ross County, according to the Ross County Health District, underscoring the kind of chronic health challenges that early, on-site adolescent care is meant to help address. Adena Health also underwent a leadership change last year, with longtime President and CEO Jeff Graham retiring in September 2025 after leading the health system since 2017, and Chief Operating Officer Kathi Edrington unanimously selected by the board to succeed him.
