By Sandra Buckley

What Are Hospital Based Schools?

Reclining in a hospital bed, 6-year-old Ben was surrounded by colorful spongy alphabet letters and miniature plastic dolls. Reaching into the pile, Ben pulled up a brightly colored doll imprinted with an alphabet letter, showing it to the teacher, Mary. “It’s an X,” he proclaimed. “X is for X-ray.” “That’s right,” Mary replied.

This academic exercise took place on a Monday morning in the Pediatric Dialysis Room of Tampa General Hospital (TGH). On this day, Ben and another child would be taught by Mary while undergoing kidney dialysis. Later, both would continue their lessons with other kids in a classroom down the hall.

Mary is a most unusual kind of teacher in a most unusual type of school – the Cynthia Wells King School, located at Tampa General Hospital’s Children’s Medical Center. This is a school without bells or hall monitors; where students may attend for three days or three months; where doctors and nurses routinely pop in to say hello; and where lessons may be interrupted while a student leaves for a medical test or procedure.

Based in a cheerfully decorated classroom brimming with books, puzzles, educational games and other equipment, the school is akin to an old-fashioned one-room schoolhouse. But unlike that old-time setting, this schoolhouse is also equipped with multi-media computers and other tools of the 90’s. Classified as a homebound program, this is where TGH patients from pre-kindergarten through the 12^th grade come for the education they would otherwise miss while in the hospital. The school is open to any student facing at least 15 days of absence from school during the year.

The pace is slower in the Cynthia Wells King School, and lessons are taught in shorter segments, taking into consideration health related circumstances. The lessons are also individualized for each child. So while a first-grader may be practicing reading skills, a high school age patient might be working on an algebra problem.

Over its 11 years, this special school has been identified as an exemplary school by the Florida Legislature and has been replicated by more than 100 hospitals and school systems in 32 states and three foreign countries. Many of the school’s students have chronic illnesses – such as AIDS, severe asthma, sickle cell and other blood diseases, which require periodic hospitalization. Other kids like Ben visit the hospital regularly for dialysis or other outpatient treatments or therapies. Mary gets to know these children and their families well. Her gratification comes in watching her students grow and learn.

Reprinted with permission from Tampa General Hospital, The Safety Net, Winter 1997/98. Article written by Sandra Buckley, Marketing and Media Relations, Tampa General Healthcare.