HJBR Nov/Dec 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  NOV / DEC 2022 53 tified that the child needed to see three specialists, not just one. So, the team was able to step in and coordinate translators, insurance assistance, transportation, and even booked three specialty appointments on one day, with a meal in between. Now the child is back at school with glasses and hearing aids, ready to learn. We discovered how the power of listening and coordina- tion of care lets us meet families where they are. ThriveKids has plans to grow our team beyond 40 staff members, advocates, and experts, which will allow the program to expand student services and provide more professional development opportunities, including mental health training. We also continue to assess data around student health needs to measure outcomes and determine what additional or targeted ser- vices are needed. ThriveKids’ plans for the future offer promising momentum for creating gener- ational change across Louisiana. Bringing care directly to kids at school is one of the ways we are working to bring resources directly to kids and families that begin to change the dynamics of pediatric health- care for Louisiana. n Meghan Howell, MD, is a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital NewOrleans and serves as the clinical direc- tor for the NICU Graduate Clinic. Howell completed a medical degree and residency training, including a year as chief resident at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is board certified in pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics. Her clinical and academic interest is in the long-term care of med- ically complex infants and children, including those born prematurely,substance-exposed,or with other special healthcare needs. Howell also serves as a dedicated pediatrician and physician advisor for the ThriveKids Student Wellness Project. Meghan P. Howell, MD Pediatrician & Physician Advisor ThriveKids Student Wellness Project Children’s Hospital New Orleans The result is ThriveKids Student Well- ness, which has three key pillars: 1. Helping staff schools with trained medical and mental health profes- sionals. 2. Coordinating care to remove barriers while facilitating clinical services. 3. Offering ongoing professional devel- opment for school faculty and part- ners. The goal behind our student and school support model is to empower schools to remain autonomous as the academic ex- perts they are, while removing barriers and ensuring that no child is left behind due to mental health or medical disruptors that may interfere with their ability to learn. ThriveKids provides resources to over 180 campuses across Jefferson and Or- leans parishes, consisting of more than 100,000 students combined and is be- lieved to be the only program of its kind in the Gulf South. To date, Children’s Hospital has committed a $14 million investment for the program’s infrastructure, services, and personnel and intends to expand that investment over the coming years. By delivering health services directly to kids at school, we aim to improve health and academic outcomes together with our schools as linked community partners and stakeholders. While students’ medical needs vary extensively, the school-based healthcare team commonly sees chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma, epilep- sy, severe allergies, heart conditions, and more. On the mental health side, we see a breadth of diagnoses similar in variation — depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, etc. ThriveKids’ early analyses suggest that 30% of students struggle with mental health or chronic conditions that require expert assistance in and outside of the school setting each day. As such, school- based mental health support is a top prior- ity for ThriveKids. For example, one ThriveKids school so- cial worker recently identified an elemen- tary student on campus who demonstrated signs of suicidal ideation from an unfortu- nate history of sexual abuse. Because we were in that school during this student’s moment of crisis, we were promptly able to coordinate care from the school to the ER to the behavioral health center. After discharge, this student was equipped with plans for continual counseling and re- sources to minimize further absences or disruptions from school. This is a powerful example of how we can identify an imme- diate need, coordinate care and support, and help the child stay on track and main- tain the ability to focus on academics. In some cases, finding solutions for everyday problems, such as getting eye- glasses or hearing aids, can also yield big impacts in the classroom. For example, re- cently, aThriveKids school nurse identified a fourth grade student who failed a vision screening, so the nurse reached out to the hospital for help. After calling the family, ThriveKids discovered that the child had a history of missing 90% of scheduled medi- cal appointments due to various challeng- es. Rather than dismissing the family as no-shows, the team wanted to know how they could help the family succeed. In one phone call, we learned that this family experiences language barriers, has a hard time navigating insurance, and fac- es transportation barriers. We also iden-