Silver City, open every weekday, now offers a sliding fee scale for patients without healthcare coverage. This payment opportunity assists patients who cannot afford medical insurance and who do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. The fee scale is based on total household income and the number of family members in a household. TeleKidCare is another of the many services provided. Computer links to nurses' offices in Emmerson Grade School, William Allen White Elementary and West Middle School enable the doctors to examine area students without a visit to the doctor's office.
Physicians can look via cameras, through odoscopes into children's ears, nose and mouth.
They can also listen through stethoscopes to the child's heart and lungs. The images and sounds are relayed instantaneously from the school to the center. Doctors treat a variety of ailments this way, from rashes and earaches to sore throats. Last spring the center began Health Connection, a partnership with Argentine Middle School. This community outreach program sends KU physicians, residents and students into eighth-grade classrooms to talk about health issues.