With flu season approaching, several schools in the Greater New Orleans area expect to stay one step ahead of illness by offering local families access to a new innovative device, Kinsa Smart Thermometers -- an app-enabled smart thermometer that tracks fever, symptoms, and influenza-like-illness activity in real time. Kinsa partnered with Ochsner Health System to sponsor the FLUency Program, a community health initiative that invites families and staff at select schools to receive free Kinsa Smart Thermometers as a way to prevent illness and promote a healthier school year.
"Sick days are disruptive to learning, challenging for parents who must find childcare, and costly to schools that are already struggling with strapped resources," explains Kinsa founder and CEO Inder Singh. "Because the thermometer is the first device you grab when your child falls ill, we turned it into a support system to keep your entire family healthy. We are thrilled to partner with Ochsner to offer schools throughout Greater New Orleans a tool to help keep more children healthy and in school."
“As part of our commitment to building healthier communities, we think it is important to support innovative community health initiatives, especially within elementary schools,” said Dr. Amanda Jackson, pediatrician at Ochsner Hospital for Children. “We hope our partnership with Kinsa can provide ease to parents, help students avoid illness and receive access to timely care if illness strikes.”
With Ochsner-sponsored Kinsa Smart Thermometers, parents at participating schools can see anonymous, aggregated information on trending symptoms and illnesses and can speak directly to an Ochsner nurse through Ochsner On Call – a free 24/7 service that provides health education, advisory services, and appointment booking, if fever or symptoms are cause for concern.
“To provide our students with a quality educational experience and a nurturing environment, we want to use every tool at our disposal to stop the spread of illness in our schools and to keep our students in class learning,” said Dr. RaeNell Houston, superintendent of Catholic Schools. “We are pleased to partner with Ochsner to offer this free program at Archdiocese schools that are interested in participating.”
Ochsner is partnering with 26 schools to bring this program to the Greater New Orleans area this fall:
Ascension of Our Lord School
Atonement Lutheran School
Christ the King School
Good Shepherd Elementary School
Harold Keller Elementary School
Holy Rosary School
John Curtis Christian School
Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy
Our Lady of Divine Providence School
Our Lady of Perpetual Help School – Belle Chasse
Our Lady of Prompt Succor School
Resurrection of Our Lord School
St. Alphonsus School of New Orleans
St. Anthony School
St. Benilde School
St. Cletus School
St. Christopher School
St. Francis Xavier School
St. Joan of Arc Catholic School
St. Leo the Great School
St. Louis King of France School
St. Peter Claver Catholic School
St. Rita School
St. Rosalie Elementary School
St. Stephen School
Stuart Hall School for Boys