In September, the Healthier Lives at School and Beyond program, an initiative led by the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and ECU Health, hosted an event at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School in Duplin County to help keep 51 students in school by providing health assessments for students.
In North Carolina, students without a health assessment or immunization record on file 30 days after the start of the school year are suspended from school which can disrupt the learning experience.
In previous years, the Healthier Lives at School and Beyond team also visited schools in Jones County and Clinton City Schools in Sampson County to ensure students are up to date on their care and can remain in the classroom.
Dr. Kristina Simeonsson, professor of pediatrics and public health at Brody, said these events are crucial for rural areas like Duplin, Jones and Sampson counties who do not have the same access to primary care as larger counties.
“These are often children who are new to the area, new to the state and possibly new to the country, who haven’t had a chance to establish with a health care provider but desperately need these health assessments done,” Dr. Simeonsson said. “We do these events in September in partnership with the county or city schools along with the county health department to get as many kids seen as possible so that they won’t miss school.”
Healthier Lives at School and Beyond was originally designed as a school-based telehealth program that provides quality nutrition education and counseling, behavioral health, and acute minor medical care services. It officially launched in 2018 to deliver interdisciplinary services virtually to rural school children, staff and faculty during the school day. Whether in school or at home, all appointments take place over a safe and secure online network which allows patients to stay at school or home and parents to stay at work or home.
But in 2020, when many community members had not seen a primary care provider due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team received a request from Duplin County schools to catch students up on health assessments. The following year, the team realized the need was larger than they anticipated and the program eventually spread to other areas of eastern North Carolina.
“We thought that was a unique situation for COVID and wanted to do everything we could to support our school partners,” Dr. Simeonsson said. “We’ve seen this program grow because there are just so many kids that need the service. Every year we’ve tried to tweak and get a little more efficient, we’ve had medical students, residents and nurses come back if they’ve done this before to help out. Every year we’re getting a little more efficient.”
During the visit to Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School in September, Dr. Simeonsson said the team chartered a retrofitted motorcoach from ECU Transit to provide further screenings.
Six physician residents from ECU Health and three medical students from Brody were on hand to help for the Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School event. Among the residents were Dr. Maria Canas, a first-year resident, and Dr. Cady Hansen, a third-year resident.
Dr. Hansen said from a training perspective, the experience is invaluable.
“I think exposure and getting out in the community is so important,” Dr. Hansen said. “We’re connecting with the community and we’re treating patients, but it’s more than that.
This allows us to get a much different perspective into the levels of medicine needed in different areas and what people have access to and trying to ensure that we provide the best level of care across populations.”
Dr. Canas, who is from Colombia, was able to connect directly with Spanish-speaking students and families while providing care at the school. She said being a resource for Spanish-speakers made the day special for her.
“I love that. I really appreciate this opportunity,” Dr. Canas said. “It’s really nice because sometimes I get comments like, ‘I’ve never seen a provider speaking Spanish.’ It’s just nice because they can feel a little bit more comfortable speaking to me because it’s the same language and it’s not easy when you don’t have that.”
Sue Ellen Cottle, lead school nurse for Duplin County Schools, said the day was a success and each year she looks forward to the team coming together to do this important work. To date, 354 health assessments have been completed which have enabled 354 students to remain in school.
“We are very fortunate in Duplin County to have the partnership with Brody and ECU Health because otherwise these students would be out of school as of tomorrow morning,” she said. “We’ll do everything from pre-K through 12th grade today, physicals, immunizations, whatever they need to stay in school. We’ll see 51 students today and we’re just thrilled to partner with the team on this.”
Through programs like Healthier Lives at School and Beyond, Brody and ECU Health are living their missions in important and unique ways. The program is exposing Brody medical students and resident physicians to unique care environments and is working to increase the supply of primary care physicians serving the state ultimately to improve the health and well-being of the region. For ECU Health physicians and team members connected to the work, it directly drives forward the mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina.
Working together with local partners makes the East a stronger, healthier community and helps ECU Health and Brody meet community members where they are to deliver high-quality, compassionate care.