A Carroll business, Classroom Clinic, has been selected by America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the August Small Business of the Month Award. The company is owned by Sue Gehling, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who had become frustrated by the severe lack of children’s mental health resources in rural Iowa. Gehling says, “The access issue had ripple effects in so many areas, including negatively impacting kids in the classroom. I finally decided I needed to step up and do more for my patients. There had to be a better way of doing things.” She launched Classroom Clinic in 2019 to provide rural districts access to school-based telehealth services to reach students directly. Kimberly Tiefenthaler, the SBDC’s regional director at the time, helped connect Gehling with the Iowa State University Start-Up Factory to build a client base and work with administrators to fine-tune the company’s services. Classroom Clinic currently operates in four Iowa districts and is preparing to add additional schools to its roster. For more information about Carroll-based Classroom Clinic, visit their website at www.classroomclinic.com.
