Nov 04: If you’re looking for one of the biggest supporters of our community, look no further than the department of pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and the faculty physicians of UNLV Health. Through their support of the school-based health clinics, a partnership with the Clark County School District, much-needed healthcare is provided to students who have difficulty accessing medical care due to various financial, cultural, language, and transportation barriers. These clinics, which officially started seeing patients in March of 2023, provide care to the local underserved community.

CCSD is the fifth-largest school district in the country and 64% of its students are economically disadvantaged. This student population is also highly diverse with roughly 80% of enrollment comprised of students of color.

The school-based clinics are located at Dr. William H. Bailey Middle School and the CCSD Family Support Center (FSC) on Maryland Parkway, and are staffed by UNLV Health pediatricians and a nurse practitioner. They provide quality, comprehensive healthcare including wellness visits, sick visits, injury care, immunizations, sports physicals, mental health services, chronic care (asthma, ADHD, and other conditions), vision and hearing screening, prescriptions, and referrals to specialists.

As of April 2026, there have been 6,181 total patient visits at the school-based health clinics: 1,117 at the Bailey Middle School clinic and 5,064 at the FSC. A total of 5,787 vaccines, 805 sports physicals, and 2,197 well checkups have also been completed. These clinics see a disproportionate number of uninsured patients. According to the latest statistics from the Children's Health Care Report Card maintained by Georgetown University, in 2024, 8% of Nevada's children are uninsured. This year alone, uninsured patients have accounted for 79% of the clinic’s total visits.

Dr. Lyanna LaFredo, assistant professor of pediatrics and the medical director of the school-based clinics, notes that because of the close relationship with CCSD, they constantly get children referred to them who have no medical care or insurance.

The Power of Being Heard

While you might think all of that is very commendable for a pediatric physician, there is much deeper evidence of LaFredo’s commitment to her patients and the service she provides. Ashley Tressler, a single mother of three boys, Nicky (11), Teddy (9), and David (8), can attest to the kind of physician LaFredo truly is.

“Once we finally got to the clinic with LaFredo,” Tressler says, “everything changed. Because she was actually listening. Not only did she answer questions, she actually provided the resources and the tools to get us this help.”

When two of her three boys began struggling with health problems, Tressler could not get a proper diagnosis and fought to get answers. Eventually, she was connected with Child Find through CCSD, a program that connects students to the support they may need. Child Find referred her to UNLV Health.

“She has been just the most instrumental and helpful person in this process with both my children who now have been diagnosed with what they needed,” Tressler says.

“I really want to give her so much credit for giving us those tools and that information other doctors have not," she continues. "With other doctors we get a referral, we're out the door. LaFredo will sit down no matter how busy it is and we have her full attention at all times. She will sit with us, explain what her thought process is, give us our options, explain those options. She will go to explain like, ‘This is my medical opinion and this is why. Now you have the options. Think about it. Let me know and then we'll pick.’ And she will, without fail, send us home with every single resource, phone numbers if we need them, addresses if we need them, names if we need them, explains what the process looks like, and it could go this way or this way or this way. I have just never felt so informed and so supported by a doctor in my entire life.”

Tressler isn’t the only one in the family singing LaFredo’s praises. Son, Teddy, appreciates her for one big reason. “She listens to me,” says Teddy, “and because of that she's helped us the most because she's listening to us.”

Tressler acknowledges that having someone like LaFredo in her corner reduces the worry in her life.

“When you're a family who has children with extra medical needs, there is a lot of stress and fear, I think the biggest way that LaFredo and UNLV Health have changed that for me is, I live stress-free knowing that when my child is struggling, I know where I can go. I know where I'm going to get answers. I know where something is going to get done. I know where a doctor is actively listening to me and not brushing me off, and I don't know that there are words to explain how much peace that brings a single mom with three kids who have serious medical needs and I can sleep at night. As opposed to, I can only imagine someone with kids having the same medical issues as mine do and not having that support system.”