From March to date, the hospital school supported by the University of Bío-Bío and which is installed in the Pediatric Service of the Herminda Martín Clinical Hospital, has allowed the educational continuity of 335 girls and boys from the age of 4 to fourth grade, with attention in the hospitalization room and also in their homes.
“When we started in March, it was a great challenge to be able to guarantee education in a hospital context. However, as the days go by, with the unconditional support of our sponsor, the University of Bío-Bío and the entire clinical team, we have been able to meet the needs and have an impact on the community, focusing on the particularities of each family or closest circle. close to the student in a situation of hospitalization and/or rest at home. In this way we avoid school dropouts and the curricular gap at the time of medical discharge,” said Paula Figueroa, director of the hospital school.
The work of the teachers follows the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and is carried out in a personalized way in the hospitalization rooms.
On the impact of the strategy, Dr. Luz Morán, director of the HCHM highlighted that “this first semester and especially the winter months were very complex due to the high demand for pediatric hospitalizations and we are very proud to have started this modality in March education, with the support of the Universidad del Bío-Bío and the experience of its educators, due to the positive impact that this initiative has on the stay of the girls and boys and on their development, guaranteeing the continuity of their studies, accompaniment, distraction and socialization”.
Meanwhile, the dean of the University of Bío-Bío, Julia Fawaz Yissi, commented: “the hospital classroom is one of the components of the Health Pole that our UBB and the Regional Government of Ñuble promote in the region. We appreciate the willingness of the Herminda Martin Clinical Hospital, as well as the Ministry of Education, for allowing us to develop this valuable initiative where knowledge and solidarity converge in a common mission: to provide education and support to children and young people who, due to health conditions, they cannot attend regular school.”
In addition, the deputy rector maintained that “the University of Bío-Bío and those of us who make up this community recognize the responsibility we have as an institution to contribute to the construction of a more inclusive and empathetic society. The hospital school is a source of pride for our university community and reminds us of the importance of education and the transformative power it has to improve lives.”
training experience
In the case of long hospitalizations and the impossibility of attending educational establishments, the hospital school is transferred to the homes or to the National Corporation for Child Nutrition (Conin), serving a total of 15 girls and boys with both strategies. .
A similar experience, but in the facilities of her home, received Antonella Parada (8 years old) who three years ago began to present a deterioration in her state of health, which has forced her to be hospitalized for long periods in different care centers being the most recent in the Intensive Care Unit of the Chillán Hospital.
Yessica Yáñez, Antonella’s mother, says that “my daughter began to be a student at the hospital school in May. When her pathology began, she was in kindergarten and due to her hospitalizations and the consequences of the disease she was unable to continue her formal education, for this reason we are very grateful for the strategy, because thanks to it we can level Anto, so that at some point can rejoin the Hispano-American College of Río Viejo”.
Before getting sick, he knew how to read and write, but due to his complex health condition, which included motor and cognitive deterioration, he had to start the educational process from scratch, twice a week with the teacher, who according to his mother “with patience and affection respects the girl’s learning times”.
According to Yessica “both the director and teacher of the hospital school are very affectionate, understanding and dedicated to their work. When Antonella was hospitalized they were concerned about her health at all times and brought her educational material when she was better and they also visited her. They do a very good job, I am very happy, because they are even coordinated with the school, so that the advances in the educational process serve to generate learning and also to later be able to integrate in person”.
To access this educational modality, girls and boys must be of school or preschool age, have the referral of the treating physician and also the authorization of the parents or caregivers.
