This new $10M program will help CMS students see a doctor — without leaving school

Local hospital system Atrium Health will use a $10 million gift from Bank of America to launch a health equity program that will help Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students see the doctor without leaving school.

The program, announced Tuesday afternoon, will provide school-based virtual healthcare at 20 elementary schools in Mecklenburg County. The program will also provide behavioral health teletherapy services at 10 CMS middle and high schools.

“The connection between health and education is a two-way street,” Atrium Health CEO Eugene Woods said. “We recognize that our job is to provide care, not just in our facilities, but out into the community and into the schools.”

Dubbed “Meaningful Medicine,” the program is designed to embed healthcare in Charlotte’s most vulnerable communities, Atrium leaders said, simultaneously addressing other equity concerns.

“Students are able to do their best work when they’re happy and healthy,” said Kieth Cockrell, president of Bank of America Charlotte. “We know that when communities have greater access to healthcare, they also experience lower unemployment, less debt and higher income.”

Woods met with Cockrell and CMS interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh at Hidden Valley Elementary School on Tuesday to announce the program’s implementation, just in time for students to return to school.

Within three years, they said, Meaningful Medicine will expand to offer virtual care at 50 schools, and teletherapy at 31 schools.

In addition to providing on-site care at 30 Title 1 schools in Charlotte — those with a large proportion of low-income students — the program will also create other virtual care sites at various Central Piedmont Community College and YMCA locations. Those locations will offer services like suicide prevention training, workforce development resources and other support.

How the program will work

Nursing staff at CMS schools will coordinate care and referrals for students, program leaders said.

Children who aren’t feeling well can go to the school nurse, who conducts an initial evaluation. The nurse then contacts the parent to receive consent for treatment, and can connect with an Atrium doctor virtually.

If the student is deemed non-contagious by the clinician, they can be sent back to the classroom.

“It makes sure that their parents can possibly stay at work and that student doesn’t miss important school hours,” said Leslie Sykes, director of corporate relations at Atrium Health Foundation.

The health care services will be free to any families with government or commercial health insurance, Sykes said.

Even for uninsured families, the maximum out-of-pocket cost of a visit is about $35, she said, and CMS and Atrium officials will work those parents to ensure cost isn’t a barrier to care.

Ameenah Mbaye, a rising CMS senior, started speaking to a therapist virtually last year when a teacher connected her with Atrium’s teletherapy program. She said the chance to speak to a mental health professional via telehealth, without leaving school, was a game changer.

“This program just really helped me to see the bigger things and just know that… having someone hear you out really helps,” Mbaye said. “I’m very grateful.”