Education Support
In partnership with school districts across the state of Wisconsin, our Keep the Beat initiatives focus on engaging children and their families in heart healthy activities, raise awareness for pediatric heart health, support building heart healthy habits in children, and educate faculty and staff on complex medical issues affecting children in education.
Timing & Events
Events take place during February to celebrate “heart month”.
Events are individualized to the school and can be as involved as you’d like. From simple heart health education to physical activities to teach children about heart health - the world is your oyster and we would love to help!
Beneficiary
All money raised during the month of February and any Keep the Beat events is donated to the Educational Achievement Partnership Program at Children’s Wisconsin.
Why care about educational support?
Children with chronic illness may experience delayed milestones that impact school performance in areas of learning, language development, motor skills, attention and behavior, and social-emotional functioning.
These differences often do not self-correct and require early intervention and school support. There are often few opportunities for collaboration among educational and medical practitioners leading to communication gaps and missed opportunities for necessary coordination of supports. In 2015, Children’s Wisconsin established the Educational Achievement Partnership Program (EAPP) to bridge the gap in care coordination between the hospital and school.
With experienced educators at the center of a multidisciplinary care team, the patient’s educational needs are assessed. The care team works to implement interventions with educational partners in the school setting. These individualized plans help ensure families, clinical providers and education staff can support and advocate for each child’s unique needs.
To date,
More than 700 patients served by the EAPP have reported new or improved education plans, school-based health and safety guidance, school attendance, mental and behavioral health and overall family well-being and quality of life.
Patients served through EAPP average six fewer hospital utilizations per patient per year resulting in tremendous health care cost savings.
The important care provided through the EAPP is not covered by insurance and is provided free of charge for families to help advocate alongside them and untangle the complex layers of health disparities and educational gaps.
become a “keep the beat” partner school
We would love to partner with you and your school to help raise heart health awareness, build healthy habits with children, and ultimately support the education of children with chronic and severe illnesses. For more information about how your school can become involved, please let us know!