Alamogordo Public Schools receives $50,000 donation from Western Sky Community Care
Alamogordo Public Schools (APS) received $50,000 in donations Tuesday, May 30 from Western Sky Community Care to purchase nine telehealth machines.
The nine telehealth machines will support the medical bus Florence Nightingale (Flo). The 40-foot recreational vehicle serves as a mobile school nurse’s station.
According to APS Director of Health Services Lisa Patch, 'Flo' was implemented in 2020.
"She was an old broken-down RV that was just sitting there. So, we had it wrapped and decided to take it out to state parks, baseball fields, any events where kids were and we didn't have students during school," Patch said. "We were anywhere that we can provide food for them, COVID-19 testing, vision and hearing exams, and things like that during that time."
According to Patch, the next step for Flo is to be utilized during telehealth visits for schools.
APS will deliver virtual medical consultations through the health care unit; this comes after entering an agreement with Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center (GCRMC).
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"We were very fortunate to receive the grants we did from WSCC because now we will have nine telehealth machines for visits," Patch said. "We can partner with any medical facility that is interested and we started with GCRMC and so any time a student comes into the nurse's office and with the tech we have now we can have the doctor on screen while the parents are notified in case students either stay for school or go home."
Patch said the goal is to keep students in school without having to send them home for minor issues or anything the school can handle themselves.
"If a student has allergies for instance and we can provide allergy medicine and just send them back to class rather than send them home than that's what we want to try and do," Patch said.
Patch said over time the goal is to have parents on the screen alongside the doctor and nurses during visits. She said it's good to keep in mind that the telehealth visits are like urgent care visits and there is a charge as if it was an office visit.
"It's as if they went to urgent care than they would be charged the same but all based on their insurance," Patch said. "If they don't have insurance, we work with them."
APS officials said that all office visits have to be preapproved by the parents and the parent must be present at the visit.
"We don't want parents to think that we may be doing a doctor visit without them," officials said.
“The integration of telehealth services within educational settings has the potential to revolutionize the way we care for students’ wellbeing, providing accessible and convenient healthcare support right where it’s needed most,” Pamela Renteria, Alamogordo Public Schools acting superintendent, said.
According to Western Sky Community Care officials, the nurses are licensed by the New Mexico Board of Nursing and the telehealth system will launch at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.
“The Flo mobile unit and telehealth medical services will help Alamogordo expand its reach and serve children and families, especially those living in rural areas,” said Western Sky Community Care President and CEO Jean Wilms.
Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on twitter at @Juan36Corr.
This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: APS gets donation to support mobile nurses unit and purchase new tech
