Instead of going home when they feel sick, students at Hillcrest Elementary School in Burlington can now meet with doctors on Zoom during the school day.
Cone Health, Burlington Pediatrics, and the Alamance-Burlington School System have partnered to provide students with telehealth resources. The program is funded completely by Cone Health donors.
Kristy Davis, the chief child services officer for the school district, said the main goal of this service is to reduce absenteeism and student suspension for absences.
“It allows students who might have a headache, sore throat, acute illness, they’re able to go see a telehealth presenter at school, and they can get connected to a doctor at a local physician,” Davis said.
Parents and guardians can also join these calls from work.
“So, whatever the doctor is seeing, the parent can see it as well,” she said. “If they’re checking the heart rate, they can hear their child’s heartbeat. It really truly is like a live visit, it’s just like you’re there in person but seeing everything virtually”
Alamance is the third county in North Carolina to have a program like this, following Guilford and Rockingham Counties, according to Davis.
Alamance-Burlington School System officials held a ribbon-cutting event at Hillcrest last week to celebrate the partnership. The district is also working to expand the program to one more elementary school next year.
