When you share a mission, you share success.

The Carolina School-Based Telehealth Learning Collaborative brings together healthcare, education and nonprofit leaders with a shared mission: to promote student success by keeping young people healthy and in school.

As pediatric providers, administrators, educators and telehealth pioneers, we represent different health and school systems in settings both urban and rural. What unites us more than anything is a passion for health equity and access to care. No matter our role or where we work and live in the Carolinas, we’ve come together to build an initiative that we know works. By sharing knowledge, resources and strengths, we’re able to help new telehealth programs launch successfully and become sustainable. Together, we’re expanding the availability of school-based telehealth to benefit as many schools and families as possible.

We’ll help you get telehealth off the ground in a practical, sustainable way.

The Collaborative is a regional forum of caring and experienced professionals dedicated to sharing what we’ve learned through our mission to expand school-based telehealth across the Carolinas. Our members have been on the frontlines of this effort and we understand the challenges students and families manage, as well as the sense of overwhelm that comes with running a complex public school. We feel for you. We’ve been there. And we believe school-based telehealth can significantly support efforts to educate children, bolster families and strengthen communities. Reach out to learn more.

The Collaborative builds relationships so we can have important conversations that move us forward.

The only way to navigate complexity and take positive steps forward is to work together. As a diverse and committed group that spans the Carolinas, we combine strengths and experiences to improve the academic outcomes, lives and overall health of today’s students. Every member contributes to the creation of a truly open forum in which we share successes so that we can learn from each other and determine the practices that work best. Together, we’ve answered all kinds of questions for one another and the schools we serve: how to secure state funding, how do rural and urban districts differ in their needs, and what is the emerging technology that makes telehealth even better than an in-person visit and how can we access it. The Collaborative is a resounding example of what we can accomplish when we work together.

Collecting data at the school sites shows us the impact of bringing telehealth to public education. Over time, we believe we’ll see significant gains not only in academic achievement but for a variety of related outcomes for families and communities.

Origin Story

We were among the first to provide telehealth as a solution and since then have committed to helping others do the same.

The Medical University of South Carolina has led the way for three decades. Designated as one of only two National Telehealth Centers of Excellence, MUSC pioneered school telehealth and now serves 100 sites.

In 2011, Amanda Martin North, MHA, and Dr. Steve North, MD, MPH, leaders of the Center of Rural Health Innovation, received a grant to initiate school- based healthcare in three North Carolina schools in rural southern Appalachia, where they’ve since expanded to more than 100 sites. The Norths quickly became a regional and national resource for others launching telehealth services in underserved areas.

Atrium Health began a program in rural Cleveland and Lincoln Counties and has grown to over 60 sites. As Atrium’s early clinical leader, pediatrician Patty Grinton was a pioneer in sharing the impact on children of telehealth in schools.

Dr. John Jenkins, Medical Director for School-Based Care at Cone Health, has been on a similar mission in the Piedmont Triad, spearheading efforts to introduce telehealth into 51 Title I schools in Guilford County. United by their shared passion for school-based telemedicine and the desire to collaborate, the Norths, Jenkins and other like-minded individuals formed a strong bond. Together, they created the Carolina School-Based Telehealth Learning Collaborative, providing a platform to unite organizations across the Carolinas, aiming to promote the successful expansion of telehealth.

Today, the Collaborative’s membership continually grows, including health systems, nonprofits and others from both North Carolina and South Carolina. We actively share practices that work, lessons learned, challenges encountered and strategies that led to triumphs. By doing so, we enable others across the Southeast and the nation to efficiently implement telehealth services in their areas, streamlining the path to success.

The Collaborative meets regularly to discuss practical and effective ways to engage school and governmental systems, explore methods to raise and leverage funding, obtain telehealth technology, plan for appropriate staffing and more — all critical steps for advancing the mission.

Beyond sharing information and offering support, the Collaborative gathers and analyzes data from its member sites. By studying the outcomes across different environments, from rural to urban settings, we provide robust evidence to support investments in school-based telehealth services.