Gas City Rural School Clinic secures high-tech telehealth through IRHA
The Indiana Rural School Clinic Network (IRSCN) expands rural telehealth program in north central Indiana
GAS CITY, Indiana – Elementary school students at the Northview Elementary School can now benefit from innovative high-tech telehealth as part of the Indiana Rural School Clinic Network’s expansion.
To celebrate this critical clinic opening, a ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled to take place Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m. EDT at the school with state and local education and agency officials. The Northview Elementary School is located at 725 E N H Street in Gas City, Indiana.
The new Northview facility uses state-of-the-art telemedicine equipment and software to allow medical professionals to directly provide healthcare services to students. This is achieved through diagnostic equipment and sensors transmitting through secure broadband connectivity from the school to a medical facility, Marion General Hospital
The new facility allows students to be seen and receive initial diagnosis/treatment from a medical professional with minimal disruption. Parents do not have to leave work in the middle of the day. With this technology, healthcare professionals are able to evaluate, diagnose and provide initial treatment with the help of an on-site school nurse. The medical professional using the telemedicine capacity can also directly send follow-up information to the children’s physician and prescriptions directly to local pharmacies for pickup.
The ribbon-cutting will include a live demonstration of the high-tech telehealth equipment to be used by the rural clinic, including a high-tech imaging stethoscope, dermscope, and otoscope in addition to customized video equipment and software platforms. The Grant County facility is now part of the Indiana Rural Schools Clinic Network (IRSCN).
Participants at the ribbon-cutting will include Abigail Garcia, State Office of Rural Health Manager; Tab McZenzie, Mississinewa Community Schools (MCS) Superintendent; Lezlie Winter, Assistant MSC Superintendent; Stephanie Hilton-Siebert, President and CEO of Marion General Hospital; Susan Miller, Chief Program Officer at the Family Service Society; Don Kelso, Executive Director of the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA); Jackie Michl, IRHA and IRSCN program assistant; and others.
The Northview telehealth facility is working with Dr. Kyle Speakman, a family physician affiliated with Marion General Hospital, and Kristan Higginbotham, a nurse practitioner with the hospital.
To participate, children must have prior parent/guardian consent. Any fees are appropriately billed to insurance. No student will be denied coverage or treatment because of lack of ability to pay.
Mississinewa Community Schools partnered with the Marion General Hospital and the Family Service Society locally to submit a grant for funding and program support from the Indiana Rural Health Association to establish this School-based Telehealth Clinic. The School-based Telehealth Clinic will also service the telehealth portion with trained medical providers available to help students experiencing acute heath symptoms.
Telemedicine is health care delivered remotely, often through video-conferencing equipment and patients can even get some prescriptions without an in-person visit if the student’s guardian consents to the treatment. Northview Elementary students will have the opportunity to be seen by a healthcare provider who is miles away while staying at school reducing barriers for rural students when it comes to quality healthcare.
“Our goal is to get students healthier quicker and remove any barriers to accessing primary care” said Kathleen Chelminiak of the IRSCN.
The students at Northview Elementary will now be able to see a doctor through a video-conference, and the set-up includes a digital stethoscope and other tools to help a linking provider make a diagnosis. School nurses have received several hours of training on how to utilize the equipment and were recently able to initiate a clinic session for two students that already had consent forms on file.
Accessing health care in rural areas of Indiana is more difficult because of factors like poverty, transportation and provider shortages. The telehealth clinic aims to also address behavioral health through Family Service Society and is working on steps to provide behavioral health services, such counseling for students.
“Through this innovative approach of incorporating Telehealth into the school setting, we are confident children will receive quality healthcare that is more accessible to them than it ever has before. Parents won’t have to take time off work, struggle with getting an appointment with their doctor or worry about transportation issues. They can now focus on getting their children healthier and not the limitations they often face with seeking primary care during the school day,” said Don Kelso, IRHA executive director.
The new school based telehealth clinic is funded through a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant made available to the Indiana Rural Health Association. Community members interested in attending the ribbon cutting event are welcome to attend.
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About the Mississinewa Community Schools
The Mississinewa Community School Corporation is a dedicated, high-performance, central Indiana school district. We have an effective, qualified, continuously learning, teaching and administrative staff that strives to provide a safe, productive and welcoming atmosphere at each of our schools. Mississinewa High School has been recognized for excellence by U.S. News & World Report and the Washington Post. For for more information, please visit: http://www.olemiss.k12.in.us/
About the Marion General Hospital
For nearly 120 years, patients have relied on Marion General Hospital and its medical staff to be competent and trusted providers of healthcare. MGH is a not-for-profit hospital, located at 441 N. Wabash Avenue in Marion, IN, which provides a wide variety of both inpatient and outpatient healthcare services. Other MGH facilities are located throughout Grant and Miami counties, in Converse, Swayzee, Fairmount, Gas City and Upland to best serve the medical needs of our Healthcare Community. We are committed to providing excellent healthcare and have adopted a set of core values which guide us as healthcare professionals. By using these core values and focusing on our goal of 100-percent customer satisfaction, we will fulfill our mission of existing to transform the health of our community through patient-centered, high quality, affordable care. For more information, please visit http://www.mgh.net.
About Family Service Society
Family Service Society, Inc. exists to encourage, empower and educate children, adults and families to change their lives for good. Family Service Society, Inc. (FSSI) has been an integral part of Grant County for more than 97 years. Established in 1919, this community-based organization incorporated in 1954 as a 501(c) 3. Through the first 25-30 years FSSI provided basic and welfare services in Grant County for individuals from cradle to the grave. Services included child protection, adoption services, admission assessment for poor and elderly individuals going to the county home, utilities, food, clothing needs, and referral for community services. More recently, Family Service Society assists 13,000 children and families annually in 14 counties in northern Indiana make changes for good in their lives. For more information, please visit http://www.famservices.com/
About the Indiana Rural Health Association
The Indiana Rural Health Association was organized in 1997 and is a nonprofit organization working to enhance the health and well-being of rural populations in Indiana through leadership, education, advocacy, collaboration, and resource development. The strength of the organization is through the present diverse membership and the founding organizers who are committed to impacting the health of citizens through the identification of rural health issues and through advocacy roles in both the public and private sectors. IRHA membership is made up of 3,300 diverse individuals and organizations, making it the largest state rural health association in the nation, and a nationally recognized leader in rural health care. For more information, visit www.indianaruralhealth.org