The equipment was ready at the Randolph Central School District in western New York. Two mobile telehealth carts, one at the elementary school and one at the high school, stood prepped and available to help treat students. Each had a computer with a web camera, a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, and an electrocardiogram machine, among other diagnostic tools. They’d need a nurse physically present to connect to a remote physician, who would assess students in real time.

To Kaine Kelly, the schools’ superintendent, the mobile clinics seemed like a promising way to provide medical care to kids in the area. Near the state’s southwest corner, the Randolph Central School District spans 254 square miles and has few local doctors. Students’ visits would be billed through the parents’ insurance, and the state would reimburse two-thirds of the yearly $16,000 operating cost. Randolph had hired an additional nurse to its staff, and there was a possibility of offering remote therapy visits, an appealing option with post-pandemic mental health problems on the rise.

“We were ready,” Kelly said. “We were all planned out, ready to roll and we were very, very excited. Our Board of Education was very excited. Our principals were excited about being able to provide this service to our kids.”