Sheila Freed
Clinical Operations Director of School Health and Senior Care
Jessica Gaikowski
Executive Director of Marketing and Sales Operations
Key Takeaways
- Avel eCare’s Virtual Health System gives school districts a cost-effective way to provide students with all-day access to a dedicated school nurse without requiring a full-time, on-site nurse in every building.
- Schools working with Avel eCare see a high return-to-class rate, helping more students remain in school while reducing the time teachers and administrative staff spend managing student health needs.
- Avel eCare’s School Health program supports districts beyond student visits by providing services such as immunization review and care plan documentation, helping existing school staff stay focused on their primary responsibilities.
As superintendents and school boards finalize budgets for the coming year, school nursing is often one of the first line items on the chopping block — especially in small or rural districts trying to make limited dollars stretch. Avel eCare, the Virtual Health System that has set the national standard for virtual care since 1993, is making the case that cutting nursing coverage is a far riskier and costlier decision than it appears on paper.
“Especially if you’re in a small school district trying to figure out how to make the money stretch, you might think, well, we don’t have a kid with a chronic condition like Type 1 diabetes, so we could probably get by without dedicated healthcare,” said Sheila Freed, BSN, RN, NCSN, Director of School Health at Avel eCare, a nationally certified school nurse and 2015 Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow. “But a basic safety issue can change in an instant, and it needs to be a hundred percent, because one child lost is too much.”
Measuring the Return
Avel eCare’s school health service line points to concrete, measurable outcomes districts can weigh against the cost of coverage. Schools working with Avel eCare see a 90% return-to-class rate, meaning the vast majority of students seen by a nurse are able to stay in school rather than being sent home. That matters directly to a district’s core mission. “Their job is to educate kids,” Freed said. “So if kids are in school, they can educate them the best way they can.”
One district Avel eCare partnered with saw chronic absenteeism drop by double digits after implementing virtual nursing — a shift large enough that the district expanded the program from two elementary schools to all of its elementary buildings.
Time Is Money, Too
Beyond student outcomes, Freed points to the time savings that come with having a nurse available in a building. Schools report that having a nurse on-site frees up meaningful time for teachers and administrative staff alike — time otherwise spent managing health situations, tracking down parents, or organizing makeup work for absent students.
“That takes a lot of time,” Freed said. “When a student is out, that teacher has to pull together all the makeup work so the student can catch up when they return. Multiply that across a school year, and across every teacher in a building, and it adds up fast.”
A More Cost-Effective Path to Full Coverage
Rather than requiring districts to choose between hiring a full-time, on-site nurse or going without, Avel eCare’s Virtual Health System gives schools on-demand access to a dedicated nurse — typically responding within about a minute — along with immunization review, care plan documentation, and other administrative work handled on the back end.
“This is the time of year when districts start thinking about who is going to fill that role,” Freed said. “The question is: how do you get all-day access to a nurse in a way that’s cost-effective, and how do you free up your existing staff to do the jobs they’re actually trained for?”
Continue the Conversation with Sheila Freed
This topic is explored further in an episode of Avel eCare’s Virtual Health Connections podcast featuring Sheila Freed, BSN, RN, NCSN, Director of School Health at Avel eCare. Drawing on her experience as both a school nurse and a leader in virtual school health, Freed discusses the challenges schools face in providing consistent health coverage, the impact on students and staff, and how virtual nursing can help districts build a more sustainable approach to school health. Listen to the full conversation to hear more about how schools are using Avel eCare’s Virtual Health System to support students, educators, and on-site staff here.