Austin & Fort Worth, TX, Aug. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Austin & Fort Worth, TX – August 16, 2022 – Campus communities continue to prioritize health and safety as students begin heading back to class this month. The focus on whole child health remains at a fever pitch, and so too is Goodside Health’s conviction that every student deserves access to quality mental and physical healthcare.
Following a year of unprecedented remote learning in 2020/21, schools largely returned to classroom education and a greater sense of ‘normalcy’ in 2021/22. With public, private, and charter school systems adapting to better serve the needs of their communities, many have looked to increase access to healthcare services from the convenient setting of campus.
“Given our unique position as a bridge between education and healthcare, we have a greater appreciation for the importance of in-class learning and the need for health equity for students,” said Goodside Health President Kevin Pearce. “Our Goodside Health team is excited to take what we have learned from the past two years and elevate health and safety for students and staff in the year ahead.”
SchoolMed, the leading school-based healthcare solution from Goodside Health, has expanded its reach to more than 1,100,000 eligible students across more than 110 school districts for the 2022/23 school year.
A Look Back at SchoolMed in 2021/22
The 2021/22 school year proved to be transformational for the delivery of healthcare services in schools. From integrated telehealth to on-site COVID-19 testing and much more, Goodside Health and its school district and state partners collaborated to close more gaps in children’s care in schools than ever before.
In many instances, health room professionals at SchoolMed partner districts conducted their virtual visits on the first day of classes. Health officials and families alike continued to experience the benefits of the program, and just as it did in the previous year, program utilization increased throughout the school year.
Near the end of the spring and into the summer, Goodside Health launched a summer initiative that saw the SchoolMed team travel to conduct more than 63 on-site events from April through early August.
Included among the many insights gleaned from another year of SchoolMed is a foundational understanding on the state of student mental health:
More than 26% of SchoolMed students were identified as being at some level of risk for anxiety and depression, including 15.8% who are at mild, moderate, or severe risk.
Of those at risk for anxiety or depression, more than 14% indicated thoughts of suicide, including some with daily suicidal thoughts.
Mental health assessments were made available to interested families with students aged 11-and-up. Following each mental health assessment, when appropriate, Goodside Health providers referred each student in need to a dedicated partner for additional mental health services.
While the information from the delivery of mental health assessments speaks for itself, the SchoolMed clinical team also learned that students are more likely to be open about their feelings when speaking with a telehealth provider.
“Kids are tech-savvy, and when we have seen students on-screen, we see that kids are much more forthcoming with their responses,” said Goodside Chief Medical Officer L. Gordon Moore, MD. “This is a major benefit of the type of school-based telehealth that SchoolMed offers to our partners and families.”
SchoolMed continues to increase attendance rates and in-class learning time by keeping healthy kids in school and providing quality care that gets sick students back to health as quickly as possible. In 2021/22, students completing a SchoolMed visit were immediately cleared to safely return to class as much as 48% of the time and at a rate of at least 28%.
As students return to school this month, here are a few more takeaways from SchoolMed in 2021/22:
• Students were most likely to present to the school health room for a telehealth visit in September and January. The higher volumes were primarily driven by surges in COVID-19 cases and return-to-school ailments.
• ‘Sore throat’ was identified as the primary reason for the initiation of a SchoolMed visit, representing nearly 30% of all telehealth visits during the school year.
• More than 14% of administered point-of-care rapid antigen COVID-19 tests returned a positive result.
• Administered rapid tests for strep returned a positive result at a rate of 34%.
• Administered rapid tests for influenza (A&B) returned a positive result at a rate of 7.5%.
• Since January 2022, SchoolMed visits increased two-fold from the year prior and increased more than 14 times from 2020.
The Demographics of SchoolMed in 2022/23
From urban to rural settings and with districts of all shapes and sizes, Goodside Health and its partners are proud to serve an increasingly diverse array of students and communities.
Here is a look at the demographics of SchoolMed as the calendar turns to the 2022/23 school year:
2022/23 SchoolMed Partners: 110+
2022/23 SchoolMed Eligible Students: 1,100,000+
• Identified as Economically Disadvantaged: 70.6%
• Enrolled in Special Education Programs: 10.3%
• Hispanic: 54.9%
• White/Caucasian: 25.8%
• African-American: 13%
• Multiracial: 2.2%
• Asian and Pacific Islander: 1.7%
• Native American: 0.2%
To learn more about SchoolMed and Goodside Health, visit www.goodsidehealth.com.
About Goodside Health
Goodside Health is advancing the delivery of pediatric care by partnering with communities to provide access to physical health, mental health, and telehealth services at school, at home, and in the clinic. Relentless advocates for expanding access to care and promoting health equity, Goodside Health leverages a Whole Child Approach to care and lives our mission of closing gaps in children’s healthcare through innovation and execution. To learn more about Goodside Health, please visit www.goodsidehealth.com.
Attachment
