The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has voted in favor of a $17.6 million grant for the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC).
The grant will be used to create a telehealth delivery system within K-12 schools to provide remote healthcare and healthcare provider access to students.
“Healthy students learn better. Implementing this telehealth program for Mississippi’s K-12 students will better ensure health issues are identified and treated,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “This program can potentially reduce absenteeism, help parents and guardians get quicker access to services for a child and even save lives.”
MDE’s goals for the telehealth services program are to:
- Provide Mississippi school districts and charter schools that currently have a school nurse on staff or contract with the equipment needed to effectively implement and manage the delivery of telehealth services to students.
- Improve the overall healthcare outcomes of students in Mississippi by increasing student access to primary, acute and specialty healthcare providers.
- Expand healthcare offerings to Mississippi students beyond diagnosis and treatment to include services that focus on health maintenance, disease prevention and health education for students, families and school personnel.
Currently, UMMC’s Center for Telehealth has more than 200 sites in 73 of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
Applications now open for Mississippi Teacher Residency program
