Denver medical clinic helps provide care for those who don't have health insurance or proper medical care

• In one exam room, a boy sits nursing a headache.
• Across the hall, a girl is curled up behind a curtain, trying to sleep on an exam table, her schoolbooks at her feet.
• In the reception area, three kids sit waiting for their names to be called.
• In the hallway, two staff members try to squeeze in a consultation about a child whose obesity concerns them.
• It is a Thursday morning in Denver's newest nonprofit health clinic.
• If this morning evolves into a typical day - and so far, it is shaping up to be far busier than typical - a dozen kids will come through the doors before the day is over.
• The Bruce Randolph Middle School clinic, in a corner of the school building, is the 12th full- service health center Denver Health operates on middle-school and high- school campuses in conjunction with Denver Public Schools.
• Until 2003, there were 13, but two fell victim to budget cuts.
• As more and more people go without health insurance, and as more and more doctors say they can't afford to treat those on Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, Denver Health's school-based clinics may be one of the more effective bandages on a small part of the gaping wound that is the health care system.
• The clinics serve kids that, in many cases, don't otherwise get regular health care, said Dr. Paul Melinkovich, Denver Health's director of school-based health services.
• Nearly half the 6,711 students who made more than 28,000 visits to school clinics last year had no insurance.
• Nearly 30 percent of the remaining students were on Medicaid or CHP+, which provide insurance for children whose families cannot afford it.