MOUNT VERNON — BroadbandOhio, a division of the Ohio Department of Development, announced last week the selection of OCHIN as a statewide telehealth administrator to help expand crucial healthcare services for Ohio’s K-12 students.
The announcement was made via a DOD press release. In addition, as the state’s telehealth administrator, OCHIN will assist BroadbandOhio in the planning and development of blueprints that school administrators can use to connect students in their district with healthcare providers and counselors via real-time video conferencing technology.
“This represents another milestone in our efforts to expand broadband connectivity to more communities, in the most meaningful ways possible,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. “Simply put, this will remove some major barriers to access and give more of our students a direct line to the support they need, when they need it.”
The partnership between BroadbandOhio and OCHIN was made possible with support from the Ohio General Assembly in the current operating budget. This initiative will aim to help administrators in at least 10 districts successfully implement telehealth programs in their schools.
In March 2020, the Administration launched a telehealth pilot at the Switzerland of Ohio School District in Monroe County. Now fully operational, the program is giving the district’s more than 2,000 students access to counselors in real time – sometimes in as little as 60 seconds, accord to the release.
This project was the result of a partnership between the district and InnovateOhio, BroadbandOhio, the Ohio Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Ohio Department of Medicaid.
In May 2021, Husted announced a second telehealth pilot program to connect nearly 20,000 students to telehealth services in the Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center (MVESC).
The project is a collaborative effort between InnovateOhio, BroadbandOhio, the MVESC and the Appalachian Children’s Coalition. Since the project’s launch, six of the 15 districts in the MVESC have access to telehealth services with six more to be added soon, the release states.
The methodology of selecting school districts interested in using telehealth is ongoing, Chief Communications Officer Sarah Wickham said. Factors such as lack of access to mental health professionals and few available doctors are being considered.
BroadbandOhio and OCHIN will then help districts to identify funding sources for telehealth implementation, Wickham said.
The tools used for telehealth include using the online telecast applications like Zoom to ensure students receive the care they need when they need, Wickham said.
With Mount Vernon City School’s health center opening soon, MVCS Supt. Bill Seder said the district’s administration is currently exploring the opportunity to provide telehealth to students through the center.
“Once this methodology is created, districts interested in developing telehealth plans in their schools will have the opportunity to apply for the program,” Wickham said.
Danville Local Schools applied for a mental health councilor state grant but was recently denied, Supt. Jason Snively said.
The district doesn’t have a mental health focused councilor, Snively said, leading to telehealth being a possible solution.
“Unfortunately it’s hard to find mental health counselors,” Snively said. “We’ve tried a couple times and so many of them … they’ve reverted back to higher-pay positions. (That includes) hospitals or other agencies that as a school district we just can’t provide and there’s just a lack of the credentialed mental health counselors.”
Danville have several local agencies come in and meet with students, Snively said, but telehealth gives students quick access to mental health counselors without transportation.
“Basically, in rural areas like ours, all these students that need that support they don’t have transportation even to get to Mount Vernon,” Snively said.
