As related in a story on today’s front page, LiveWell Kershaw -- a collaboration that includes the Community Medical Clinic of Kershaw County -- and KershawHealth with its partner, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) are proposing to do two things that we think will make things better for students, parents and the Kershaw County School District in terms of physical and mental health.

First, LiveWell is proposing to expand the School-Based Health Center (SBHC) program it launched at North Central high and middle schools to Camden and Lugoff-Elgin high schools. Doing so, presenters said, means more students could be seen, and possibly treated, by a nurse practitioner or counselor rather than having to be picked up by their parents to go to a doctor’s office -- an inconvenience for them and their children.

Next, KershawHealth and MUSC are asking the district to allow the healthcare partners to introduce a telehealth system which would digitally connect school nurse offices -- and, perhaps, the proposed expanded SBHC program -- with a nurse practitioner or doctor from MUSC.

Again, the focus is on saving time so that students don’t necessarily have to miss class (other than the time spent at the nurse’s office) and their parents don’t have to leave work. In addition, LiveWell has already expended its mental health counseling to Camden and Lugoff-Elgin, meaning more students are getting the counseling they need.

We think these are very good ideas in terms of keeping our children healthy, and hope the district moves forward with both proposals.