Far West Texas students are spending more time in classrooms thanks to a telehealth programme that brings specialised healthcare directly to school nurses’ offices.

The Border Health Outreach Initiative transformed several community health programmes, including Campus Care, a school-based programme led by Project Vida in partnership with Texas Tech Health El Paso. Campus Care connects K-12 students in remote rural communities to medical specialists using telecommunications technology.

Since its launch in February 2023, the programme has reduced student absenteeism by up to 35%, with up to 80% of students reporting improved academic performance.

“Thanks to the Border Health Outreach Initiative, we have been able to reach many students who otherwise go without healthcare,” said Pamela Ponce, Campus Care co-chief with Project Vida (www.pvida.net). “We’ve identified countless children with undiagnosed conditions like asthma and mental health challenges, providing them with life-changing diagnoses and treatment that prevents unnecessary hospitalisations and suffering.”

The outreach initiative is supported by a $3m federal grant secured by US Representative Veronica Escobar (escobar.house.gov) of El Paso. In addition to physical health, the programme has been transformative in addressing student mental health needs in communities where resources are scarce. According to Texas Health & Human Services, many communities in Far West Texas have no child and adolescent psychiatry providers.

“At one of our districts, a student was having difficulties breathing and didn’t have an inhaler due to lack of medical insurance,” said Ponce. “The patient was seen virtually by a Campus Care telehealth provider, who prescribed an inhaler. A Project Vida Health Center discount packet was given to the parent, and now the student can take his inhaler during school hours.”

School districts currently benefiting from the programme include Canutillo, Socorro, Clint, San Elizario, Fort Hancock and Tornillo ISDs.

“We know that when people do not have access to healthcare, it ultimately ends tragically for them,” said Escobar. “It also incurs a financial cost. People often use our emergency rooms as their primary healthcare access points, but when they leave that access to return to a healthcare desert, it does not bode well for them.”

The cornerstone of the Campus Care school-based healthcare initiative is the TytoCare Clinic (www.tytocare.com/pro-smart-clinic), a portable device that enables school nurses to conduct clinic-grade physical exams for conditions including strep throat, ear infections and respiratory illnesses.

Before the programme, residents of many Far West Texas communities faced six-hour round-trip journeys to El Paso for specialised medical care. For school-age children, this often meant missing full days of instruction for routine appointments.

The initiative has established telemedicine services in Presidio, Terlingua, Alpine, Fort Davis and other rural communities where residents typically live two to five times farther from medical facilities than the national average.

Among young adults aged 18 to 25 in the USA, one in three experienced a mental illness in 2020, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The telehealth programme provides critical access to mental health services for students who previously had no practical way to receive such care.

El Paso County itself struggles with a provider shortage, having only five psychiatrists for every 100,000 residents. The telepsychiatry component of the initiative allows students to receive professional mental health support without leaving their school environment.

Texas Tech Health El Paso serves 108 rural counties in west Texas and is a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution dedicated to preparing healthcare. Established as an independent university in 2013, Texas Tech Health El Paso is a destination for medical, nursing, biomedical sciences and dental education.

With a focus on healthcare education, research, and clinical service, Texas Tech Health El Paso has graduated over 2400 professionals over the past decade, and will include dental graduates from this year. For more information, visit ttuhscepimpact.org.