Telehealth addition makes Texas school nurse's offices look a lot different

Founded in 2015, the Center for Good Food Purchasing offers a unique model for making school lunch healthier, cheaper, and more sustainable. Partnering with school districts and other local and national organizations, the Center outlines five core values to which schools must commit. Jill Harkins writes, "The big idea driving the work is that large institutions like governments and schools buy a lot of food ... and so they have the power to shift the market toward higher quality, more environmentally-sustainable and fair food." The approach has taken off in LA - can the same happen in Philadelphia?

Schools are often the most efficient place to provide mental health services to children; as the number of professionals who provide these services in schools dwindles, tele-conferencing and virtual visits are filling the gap. Often connected with health care access in rural spaces, tele-mental health services have also been proven as effective in urban areas, especially for follow-up and dosage adjustments. The University of Maryland's telemedicine program and Health E-Access, a program administered by the University of Rochester, are finding success with the approach.

Getting away from daily publishing helps local newspapers focus on serving their audience. The Quoddy Tides, a family-owned newspaper in Eastport, Maine, publishes only twice monthly. Publishing less frequently allows the newspaper to include more local stories, which are of interest to their community of readers, many of whom either live in, or have ties to the community. By avoiding the 24-hour news cycle, the newspaper can focus on local discourse and civic engagement.

Many psychologists and counselors have moved their therapy sessions online due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has been received largely positively across the nation. As the pandemic continues, however, there is an increasing need for therapists who are trained to work with other therapists or first responders, so some states are now increasing online educational training, using social media to make connections, and utilizing professional organizations to "keep records of therapists available and trained to work with other first responders."

Philadelphia medical centers had to pivot their services in response to COVID-19, turning to telehealth to screen patients who think they’re experiencing symptoms. That pivot took some adjusting – having to hire and train staff in the technology and process and scaling their services to meet the massive spike in online appointments. Doing so has let places like Jefferson Health and Penn Medicine see close to 10x the patients they usually see.

To allow patients to still see their doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, insurance providers have eliminated some of the barriers for providers to be reimbursed for telehealth appointments. This change in policy has helped doctors in Maine grow their telehealth practices in ways that may outlast the pandemic.

Ameelio is a technology startup launched by Yale students to facilitate free communication between people who are incarcerated and loved ones. In their first six months, the group went from sending 300 to over 4,000 letters a week to facilities in the United States. Their initial goal was to provide a not-for-profit alternative to the oftentimes predatory prison telecommunications industry. Recently they began a voter registration initiative where they send registration instructions, a blank voter registration application, and ballot request form to people who are incarcerated and eligible to vote.

Civic and advocacy groups fight disinformation targeted at Latinx voters and conduct voter registration and education outreach. Voto Latino encourages young people to help older relatives spot disinformation and trained its staff to spot and report it to the watchdog group, Disinfo Defense League. Social media posts then flag the information as false. Personal relationships are an effective way to counter disinformation and also help encourage people to vote. Voto Latino alone has registered over 500,000 voters since mid-2019, more than the total amount since the organization began in 2004.

Mehr als 20.000 Tüftler kamen Ende April beim Hackathon "EUvsVirus" zusammen, virtuell. Ziel: Die Suche nach Lösungen für die vielen Probleme in der Corona-Krise. Mittlweile hat sich die Idee europaweit ausgebreitet.

School-based health centers provide free services including flu shots, physicals, contraceptive care and reproductive education, talk therapy and behavioral health care to students. Research has found that these school-based clinics boost vaccination rates, reduce hospital visits, lower rates of teen pregnancy and depression and improve grades and attendance levels, all while reducing disparities and making healthcare more accessible.