 |
Eva Meinke |
Anyone who thinks that a hospitalized student might be happy about missing school couldn’t be more wrong. NHS has a department that responds to the educational needs of hospitalized children — Educational Support Services (ESS). But through the patient wards of the Lied Transplant Center, NHS Clarkson and University Hospitals and Ronald McDonald House, ESS is better known as the 2 Cool Hospital School.
“When a sick child is told that he or she can’t go back to school, it’s devastating to them,” said Eva Meinke, M.A.E., ESS educational consultant. “The first things kids think about is whether or not they are going to pass to the next grade. Older students worry about not graduating with the class they may have been a part of for the last 10 years.
“Our work proves that a lot of people need to get over the idea that a kid is too sick to study. Even well-meaning teachers will offer to give them a final grade based upon their schoolwork at the time of hospitalization. But these kids don’t want anything handed to them. In fact, for a child, from age 5 to 18, school is their job — their life. Keeping up with school is really keeping up with life itself to them.”
|
The NHS 2 Cool Hospital School will kick off its first ever School Supplies Drive Monday, July 29. The UNMC/NHS department, off-site clinic or unit that donates the most Donations will be collected within departments and then brought to the Supplies will support students who are long-term patients at NHS Clarkson and University Hospitals, the Lied Transplant Center and the Ronald McDonald House. Any materials not used for the 2 Cool Hospital School will be donated to the KETV 7-Salvation Army Back to School Drive. Supplies requested include: book bags, lap desks, chunky big crayons, Play Dough thin markers, flash cards, stickers, facial tissues, pencil boxes, folder, note books, safety scissors, erasers, notebook filler paper, paper paste and pencil sharpeners. Also needed are pens, colored pencils, Elmer’s glue, lap desks, small staplers, compasses, protractors, workbooks associated with math, phonics, reading, spelling, science and grammar for all grade levels; Leap Pads; educational board games; pocket dictionaries; hand-held calculators and Scotch tape. For more information, contact Michelle McFadden at 888-5242. |
Meinke ought to know. She has been an integral part of ESS for almost 14 years. Prior to joining NHS she taught high school English in Norfolk, Neb., for 15 years and another year at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. By the late 1980s, health science professionals and administrators acknowledged the need for more extensive educational services because many more children were requiring extended care hospitalizations due to transplants and cancer protocols.
Originally, ESS was a larger department with a full-time manager and secretary, plus several educators for junior and senior high kids and preschool and elementary-age children.
“Because of budget constraints and merger needs, today ESS is a department of two — myself and Janet Lohmeier,” Meinke said. “Janet takes care of children from birth to age 5, and I work with the rest. We have a wonderful classroom for children well enough to come to us. In fact, we find that the physical act of going from their hospital bed to an actual classroom is healing for many children. But we have plenty of tools to work with those who must stay in bed.”
Attending the 2 Cool Hospital School
At the 2 Cool Hospital School, there is a basic six-step process from admission to discharge. Those steps include referral from physician, contact with patient/parent, contact with patient’s school, instruction of patient, assistance with patient’s return to regular school and follow up.
Anytime a physician realizes that he or she has a patient looking at more than two weeks in the hospital or that is about to engage in a long series of visits, they refer the patient to ESS. Meinke or Lohmeier will then contact the patient and their parents. If the parents want to handle the educational responsibilities on their own, ESS will offer a host of books, supplies, computer software and videos for their support. But if the family wants ESS to coordinate a continuing education program, the patient’s home school and administration are contacted.
“The smaller the home school, the more they love getting my call,” Meinke said. “We work with patients from all over the United States, and from nations such as Ireland, Canada and Mexico. But it’s the small town school districts that really appreciate our services because they don’t have the resources to really help a child keep up.
“ESS gets a full review of the patients’ curriculum and status. We will facilitate getting their books, helping them take tests and whatever we need to do. Our whole goal is to help students be able to return home and step back into the flow of schoolwork with their peers.”
Depending upon patient load, ESS consultants try to have at least one hour per session with each student each day. But they work around the therapy schedule. Dialysis patients may only be on campus four days a week, so they will see them on those days. If there is a large case load, some patients may be seen Monday/Wednesday/Friday and so on. Ultimately, Meinke and Lohmeier help smooth the transition back to their regular school, providing in some case, actual grades for students where their administration left the program totally in ESS hands.
2 Cool Hospital School seeks donations
ESS is sponsoring its first school supplies donation drive this year to help with the many materials that hospitalized students may need [see side bar article]. Meinke and Lohmeier work under strict anti-infection protocol so there are certain students who cannot mingle with others. They try to arrange for each student to have a personal book bag with supplies, if possible. Many of these kids make recurring hospital visits and they will bring their personal bag back and forth. Many supplies cannot be shared among students. Larger educational toys used in hospital rooms for bedridden patients are sent to a cleaning service before being used with a new patient.
“We try to keep the same school items the kids would use at their school,” Meinke said. “In fact, I also try to encourage students to read more classics and view more classics-based videos. Rather than viewing ‘Shrek’ six times, I’ll encourage a kid to watch ‘Old Yeller’ or ‘Heidi.’ Both students and parents are often appreciative of this initiative.
“Thanks to the University Hospital Auxiliary, we have a mobile cabinet with computer that we roll between hospitals. I come in the room and in minutes have a kid on the Internet so they can do research for their studies or send e-mail. We could really use a lot of Leap Pads, electronic books the kids place in their laps. These are great. A kid studying in the United States will push the state of Nebraska and a voice explains what state we are and other information. Also, we use a lot of lap desks, bean bags with hard top surface, that make great surfaces for writing or holding books when placed in a child’s lap.”
Teacher: “I’m the student as often as they are”
During the school year, ESS is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Since July 1, for the first time, Meinke also is in the office during the summer months, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The ESS summer enrichment program now allows Meinke to follow-up with students who may not have completed their studies during the school year. She can ask an administrator to hold off on a grade and give a child time for Meinke to help the student catch up.
“Janet and I work very hard at teaching our patients,” Meinke said. “But I’ll tell you something. After years of watching what these children go through in medical issues, I’m not being sappy when I say that I’m the student as often as they are. For one thing, I have absorbed an incredible amount of medical knowledge in just understanding all the many issues these children face — from cancer and transplants to ADHD and autism. It’s been a real education.
“But it’s the life lessons these kids teach us all about courage, kindness and determination. I teach them how to stay up with their studies, but they teach me a great many things that can’t necessarily be learned from books. I like to think I am helping these kids continue to have fun while they’re learning. In return, they constantly give me a renewed appreciation for life.”