Nestled between the bustling big cities of Tampa and Orlando sits Lake Wales, a tight-knit community with a charter school system committed to providing quality healthcare services that help their students excel day in and day out.

Situated at the center of that commitment to whole-child care is Marcia Rose, the Health Services Director at Lake Wales Charter Schools. With a background in emergency care, Rose, also a Registered Nurse, was drawn to Lake Wales when the need for healthcare in schools became more prevalent with the onset of the COVID pandemic.

“We get to meet each student where they are. With all of our schools being Title 1, [before SchoolMed] we knew of students that we were sending home were not getting the care they need with a provider after they left school,” Rose said.

Marcia and her health services team understands what surrounds a student at home or what’s going on in their life affects their health, as well as their days at school.

Marcia advocated that her district brings in full time LVNs and RNs at Lake Wales Charter Schools campuses. She knew that this would have a huge impact on the students. Now, with SchoolMed operating across each of Lake Wales’ campuses, school nurses are empowered to use their skills to bring care to students.

“The access to healthcare we have now is the biggest thing. The population is growing here in central Florida and there aren’t enough providers to meet the needs,” Rose said.

This was one of the main reasons that Lake Wales wanted to bring SchoolMed to their campuses, to provide access to care where it truly wasn’t before.

“Goodside Health has changed how our clinics run. We are much more healthcare focused now. As the Health Services Director, it’s important that I know my nurses feel empowered to be a nurse,” Rose concluded.

Thank you, Lake Wales Charter Schools, for helping to close over 250 gaps in children’s healthcare with SchoolMed this school year.