Plymouth school nurses using new electronic system to keep parents informed

PLYMOUTH, Ind. - School is back in session in Plymouth, and this year, nurses are using a new electronic tool that will help keep parents in the loop.

The system is called CareDox, and it’s actually completely free for public schools.

Plymouth school nurses started using it last year, but this year, they’re adding the parent portal.

“Busy people like myself and my wife. It kind of takes our worries off of things a little bit,” said Plymouth schools parent of three, Emanuel Reese.

He’s talking about Plymouth Community School’s new electronic medical records system, CareDox, which connects nurses with parents in real time.

“With this program it’s going to get a notification at the end of the day. Troy was in the nurse’s office today at this time, so parents are going to be able to keep track a little better of how often their student visits the nurse,” said Plymouth High School nurse, Krysta Magee.

As a father of three and local small business owner, Emanuel Reese says those automatic emails are a godsend.

“It takes a lot of stress away from the parents, you know getting a phone call, having to scurry,” said Reese.

Another bonus is the health history feature.

“That only has to be filled out one time now. In the past, it’s been yearly. They had to fill out the same thing over and over, so this will keep it. Of course, the parent can get in at any time and make changes to that health record, which Is great, so we have the most up to date health record that student has,” said Nurse Magee.

“My youngest daughter, she’s in first grade now, so this CareDox will travel with her all the way through high school,” said Reese.

Plymouth Community Schools’ new superintendent Andy Hartley says he hopes centralizing these records will help their seven nurses better serve their 3600 students.

“It can provide some analytics reporting that can be more efficient for us in looking at the care we’re providing through the nurses’ offices, and then the access and the connections to state immunization records as well as our student information system. That whole integrated piece was important to us when we considered this move,” said Superintendent Andy Hartley.

“On here, it’s going to tell me when their last visit was. How many visits they’ve had in the nurse’s office this year,” said Magee.

Now, when parents are working to make ends meet, a simple click lets them keep track of their kids’ health.

Parents will also have access to all their students’ medical information on their phones.

Plymouth Schools nurses say this system will not completely replace phone calls. Parents can still expect a call in an emergency situation.

To register, you have to have an email address, so for those parents who do not, they should register their students in the same way they have in the past.

For more information on CareDox, CLICK HERE.