Fearing coronavirus but afraid of a doctor visit? FWISD has solution for its families
The premature end of the school year, brought on in response to the coronavirus pandemic, has left parents scrambling to keep their children engaged in learning from their living rooms instead of their classrooms.
There is also mounting evidence that people are opting against seeking medical care for their children, especially well-visits for vaccines, out of fear of contracting COVID-19.
The good news for Fort Worth ISD families is they now have access to urgent care, including pre-screening for COVID-19, from their living rooms.
The Fort Worth ISD Telemedicine Program went live Thursday through Urgent Care for Kids, an Austin-based company with 13 physical sites in Texas that has also developed Virtual Care for Kids and Families.
A multi-year agreement between the school district and Urgent Care for Kids was to begin on campuses in the fall, but the sides worked to implement the virtual service as quickly as possible after the coronavirus pandemic set in.
“They’ve really been at the forefront of all those things, so we definitely wanted to make this available to our students and families,” said Ottis Goodwin, the director of family and community resources for FWISD. “We want to make it available to everybody.”
Parents must first register at urgentcarekids.com/fwisd, and will then be able to reach a health-care provider virtually from 8 a.m. to midnight for any kind of illness.
The video conferences are free for families with Medicaid, $50 for uninsured families, and co-pays are waived for insured families.
Brian White, the CEO for Urgent Care for Kids, said he expects that 75 percent of FWISD students will eventually be registered, based on trends from the other 10 districts the company services. White expects to have agreements with 10 more districts soon.
“COVID has really opened the eyes of school districts as to the need to provide next-level healthcare access to students on campus,” White said.
Originally, the agreement would allow for school nurses to test for strep throat and flu on campuses after a virtual doctor visit. The expectation is that reliable quick COVID-19 testing will be available on campuses when the next academic year begins.
For now, parents who believe they or their child might have COVID-19 can visit Virtual Care for Kids and Families for a pre-screening. If symptoms suggest the disease might be present, they can then receive a drive-thru test at an Urgent Care for Kids location.
With parents still working, there’s a convenience factor at play, too, and the Fort Worth school district has a partner that can handle a family’s medical needs in an unprecedented time.
“They have the staff and the infrastructure and systems to support that,” Goodwin said. “We’re happy to get it out.”
Facebook helping FWISD
The district has started to distribute the 6,000 AT&T hotspots that were part of an emergency measure approved last week to help give all students access to internet service for at-home learning.
Distribution started Wednesday and should be wrapped up by Friday. All students in need of the equipment have been identified and have had a hotspot designated for them.
The $1.3 million expenditure will be covered in part by a $500,000 donation from Facebook, which opened a data center in Fort Worth in 2017.
Food Bank distributions Saturday
The Tarrant Area Food Bank will provide 25-pound boxes of non-perishable food to families from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday at four mobile pantry sites. The boxes will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and the food bank’s goal is to continue distributions on future Saturday.
The four sites are: Leadership Academy at Como Elementary, 4000 Horne Street, Fort Worth, 76107; Western Hills Elementary, 2805 Laredo Drive, Fort Worth, 76116; Luella Merrett Elementary, 7325 Kermit Avenue, Fort Worth, 76116; and Leonard Middle School, 8900 Chapin Road, Fort Worth, 76116.
Also, beginning Monday the FWISD Meals To Go site at Eastern Hills High School will be move to West Handley Elementary School due to construction progress at Eastern Hills. West Handley, at 2749 Putnam Street in Fort Worth, is less than a mile from Eastern Hills
Teachers of the Year
Five elementary teachers and five who teach secondary students were selected FWISD District Teachers of the Year, and were notified via a surprise Zoom call Monday.
In a typical year, 10 finalists are selected and then that list is pared down to one elementary winner and one secondary winner. This year, though, the selection process was altered by the coronavirus pademic, so each finalist was selected as a top teacher.
The winners were: Matthew Bradford, sixth grade health, Meadowbrook Middle School; Mireya Cadena, second grade DLE English language arts, Cesar Chavez Elementary; Amy Craft, dyslexia interventionist, Carter Park Elementary; Brooke Darby, fifth grade ELAR and social studies, DeZavala Elementary; Kathy Elliott, ninth grade biology, ninth grade college transitions, Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences.
Ray Horton, geometry and algebra I, TCC South-Fort Worth ISD Collegiate; Carminia Moreno, fifth grade science and social studies, Sam Rosen Elementary; Vicky Robertson, AVID teacher, Polytechnic High School; Jennifer Sanchez, third grade math and reading, Western Hills Elementary; Derek Smilowski, head director of bands, Eastern Hills High School.
