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Students at Bessemer Elementary School don't have to travel far to see a doctor. If you are sick, you can go to the school health clinic, log on to the computer, and contact your pediatrician or family medicine doctor. After a doctor prescribes treatment, most students can return to class right away without having to go home.
The telehealth program launched in fall 2021 as a way to address chronic absenteeism in Guilford County Public Schools, the third-largest school district in North Carolina. The number of students missing more than 10 days of school has surged locally and nationally during the pandemic and remains high in many places.
The program, piloted in Bessemer, gradually expanded. 15 of the district's Title I schools, high-poverty schools where families may lack access to health care. The telehealth program, along with other efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, is helping, Superintendent Whitney Oakley said. Bessemer's chronic absenteeism rate decreased from 49% in 2021-2022 to 37% last school year. This is still a higher improvement than the district would like.
“It doesn't matter how good the teacher is or how strong the teaching is. “If children aren’t in school, we can’t work.” She said.
Oakley said district administrators have focused on access to health care after seeing parents pull all their children out of school if they have any. I was sick and had to see a doctor. Chronic absenteeism rates were also higher in areas where families historically had limited access to routine health care and had to go to emergency rooms when they needed non-emergency health care.
Telemedicine is also a way to ease the burden on working parents.Oakley said: Many parents at the district's Title I schools work hourly wage jobs and rely on public transportation, making it difficult to get a sick child out of school quickly.
Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit organization that fights chronic absenteeism, said early research suggests telehealth can improve attendance. A study of three rural districts in North Carolina published in January found that school-based telemedicine clinics reduced students' likelihood of missing school by 29% and the number of days missed by 10%.
Some regions are transitioning to virtual teletherapy services. To combat chronic absenteeism. Stephanie Taylor, a former school psychologist who is now vice president of clinical innovation at teletherapy provider Presence, said her company's practice has grown from 1,600 schools to more than 4,000 in recent years as the need for mental health services has increased. They say it has expanded. Therapy can help children cope with emotional issues that may be keeping them out of school, and virtual services give students more choice in counselors and a greater opportunity to find someone who matches, she said. said.
At Guilford County Public Schools, the district plans to expand existing mental health services to eventually include teletherapy. According to Bessemer Elementary School Principal Johnathan Brooks. Oakley said the district also plans to expand telemedicine clinics to all 50 Title I schools.
The clinic is staffed by school nurses who assist doctors in examining students remotely. We ensure that your prescriptions are filled quickly. The program is funded through partnerships between local and regional governments, health care providers and nonprofits, which ensures that uninsured families still have access to treatment and medications, Brooks said.
The biggest challenge in starting the clinic was getting parental consent., he said. The district held meetings with parents, especially non-native English speakers, to discuss how this would benefit their children. To access the program, parents must select a program at the beginning of the school year.
Of the 300 students who received treatment at the Bessemer Clinic last year, 240 returned to class the same day.“Oakley said. Without the program, she said, “all 300 people would have gotten sick and been sent home.”
She added: “Schools are often trusted places within the community. This helps bridge the gap with healthcare providers. It puts resources where they already are.”
This story about school telehealth was produced by: Hechinger Reportis a nonprofit, independent media outlet focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up Hechinger Newsletter.