Joe Kline / The Bulletin The new school-based health clinic adjacent to Sisters High School is scheduled to open Thursday.

Deschutes County’s school-based health center in Sisters will move into a new building Thursday and be the first of the county-run school clinics to offer a combination of services.

The new, 2,500-square-foot red building will provide a space for exams and immunizations as well as behavioral health services and dental care to students and area residents.

The county operates four school-based health clinics, including the one in Sisters, which has been run out of a two-room modular building for the past two years next to Sisters High School. County officials say the Sisters health clinic has needed to expand and provide more services to the public.

The new clinic has three exam rooms, a minilab and a dental area. Located at 1700 SW McKinney Butte Road, next to the high school, the building took fewer than six months to build.

When the foundation was poured, the county hoped an assisted living center would be built nearby and allow for water and electricity hookups. Construction was delayed for two months but eventually went ahead with the county putting in additional money for utilities and roads.

“It was a fairly easy project,” said Susan Ross, the county’s property and facilities director. “It all went very smoothly.”

The clinic is a partnership among the county, St. Charles Medical Center and Advantage Dental.

Ross said the hospital provided computers and the clinic’s furnishings. Advantage Dental installed the dental clinic equipment, she said.

“We definitely wouldn’t be able to do this over there,” said Ross about the former modular building. “We just wouldn’t be able to have these type of services.”

The project was done with the help of a $500,000 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant. The county announced plans for the new building in December.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820,

tshorack@bendbulletin.com