School health clinic aims to reduce absence, remove barriers to success

A new telehealth clinic at Glen Lea Elementary School in East Highland Park, the first of its kind in the county, will provide medical, dental and mental health support for students.

The goal is to knock down some of the barriers that get in the way of students' success in school.

“We know that children who are not feeling well may have difficulty focusing on their learning,” said Superintendent Amy Cashwell at an opening ceremony on Tuesday. “By harnessing our collective expertise and resources, we are removing significant barriers to wellness and academic growth for Glen Lea students. The result will be healthier students, stronger minds, and of course positive academic outcomes.”

The medical and dental service program is the result of a partnership between Henrico County Public Schools, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond, the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, and the Henrico Education Foundation.

Absenteeism

Glen Lea Elementary has one of the highest chronic absenteeism rates in the county, which is one of the reasons why school division officials chose it as the first location for a clinic.

Research shows that chronic absence — missing 10% or more of school days for any reason — can result in students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade and not graduating from high school.

In the 2017-2018 school year, 17.6% of Glen Lea students were chronically absent, according to the Virginia Department of Education. In the 2020-2021 school year, the number of chronically absent students  rose to 28%. In comparison, students at Tuckahoe Elementary, in an affluent part of the county, had chronic absenteeism rates of just 1% during those same years.

“We were seeing absences and often tardies for kids because of health concerns,” said Mike Taylor, CEO of the Henrico Education Foundation, the funding partner of the clinic. “It's the struggle of trying to put food on the table for the family, and they can't take time from work because they don't get leave. Then they’re missing opportunities to get kids over to the doctor, which means that they’re sick and they're missing school.”

This clinic will keep more students in school, said Henry Royzcki, a doctor at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, who serves as a professor of pediatrics at the VCU School of Medicine, vice chair of research for the division of neonatal medicine, and director of the Child Health Research Institute.

Often when a student gets sick at school, the school nurse isn’t equipped to make a diagnosis, and the safest thing for him or her to do is to call the parent to pick up the student.

But with the new telehealth clinic, the school nurse and the student will talk virtually with a healthcare provider who will examine, diagnose and recommend a course of action for the student — which will sometimes be to stay in school.

The nurse, who will be with the student in the new clinic, is the “eyes and ears” for the doctor on the other end of the virtual appointment, said Michelle Wagner, a doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond who is working with the program.

“That combination of a really wonderful, experienced nurse working with a doctor will be able to guide decision making,” Wagner said.

Removing barriers

About 87% of Glen Lea Elementary's students were deemed “economically disadvantaged” this year, according to the VDOE.

“It’s going to have a disproportionate impact here,” said Royzcki, a main leader of the project. “This may not be necessary in every school.”

All children enrolled at Glen Lea are eligible, with parental consent. There are no out-of-pocket costs for these services provided at the school, and health insurance is not required.

“Glen Lea serves a population that has a lot of stresses,” Royzcki said in an interview. “Saying, ‘we need to call the parent of the kid to send them home,’ is probably a bigger challenge here overall than it is in other communities.”

Where a child lives can be a determinant of his or her access to quality health care, especially in a geographically diverse county like Henrico, whose eastern sections are much less densely populated.

“Even the availability of same day or after hour sick appointments, depending on where you live in the county, really varies between maybe a pediatrician's office in the West End that’s really equipped for those things and one that is more overloaded with patients who need appointments, and not as many providers,” Wagner said. “We are not a replacement for having a great relationship with the pediatrician, but I think we can help fill in at least some of the gaps.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the opening of the clinic, it also changed the way health services work. Telehealth is more widely used and accepted now, which resulted in the understanding that it's not always necessary to physically take a child to the doctor.

The new clinic is the latest part of HCPS’ community schools initiative, which started in 2016 with the first Community Learning Center at Glen Lea Elementary.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.