The 2018 Cox Corporate Social Responsibility Report CEI_2018_CSR_Report | Page 47

Getting Students Closer to Care
Children who are healthy are more prepared to
learn and succeed in school. But financial and
logistical obstacles can make it difficult for kids
to get the care they need when parents must
take time off work to drive children to doctors’
appointments. Costly copays for office visits may
be out of some families’ reach.
This problem caught the attention of Lafayette
General Health, a community-owned nonprofit
health system, and St. Martin Parish, a public
school district in Louisiana, both Cox Business
customers. Cox partnered with them locally to
conduct an innovative pilot project connecting
the hospital with Stephensville Elementary, one
of the parish’s most remote elementary schools,
through telemedicine.
The pilot incorporated telehealth software,
high-definition cameras, enterprise health
records and cloud-based software to assess
children at the school. Telemedicine is ideal
for nonemergency visits such as cold and flu
symptoms and rashes, as well as for ongoing
management of chronic conditions like diabetes
and asthma. In its first year, 87 percent of
Stephensville students enrolled in the program,
and those who participated had higher school
attendance and better grades.
In 2017, the James M. Cox Foundation awarded
a $250,000 grant to expand telemedicine
capabilities to the entire St. Martin Parish school
system, helping to eliminate barriers to health for
approximately 8,000 children and their families.
Telemedicine
capabilities have
the potential to
reach up to
8,000
children.

Cox Enterprises, Inc. 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
45