Imagine doctor’s notes 24/7 straight from your thermometer. USD 259 offers it for free
Imagine it’s 3 a.m. and your kindergarten student comes down with a fever.
The thermometer reads 100 degrees, but that thermometer sends that information to your phone, which offers doctor-recommended practices on what to do next.
Now imagine it all for free.
Wichita Public Schools, USD 259, has paired with Kinsa, a company that offers smart thermometers that are intended to stop the spread of contagious illness through early detection and response, said Nita Nehru, Kinsa marketing and community manager.
“In this day and age, we have such little information on the health situation around us,” Nehrusaid. “How do we stop the spread of illness if we don’t even know where and when it’s spreading?”
USD 259 started offering the Kinsa smart thermometer to 26 elementary schools Sept. 18, 2018, as part of a pilot program, district nurse Kimber Kasitz said.
That project is still running more than 13 months later, still free to the families who sign up. She said students at the USD 259 secondary schools were given coupons to buy the smart thermometers.
The thermometer requires a free application download. Once the Kinsa app is installed, it offers information from symptoms to remedies. The app tracks and stores information for multiple people in the family.
The app also tracks if there is a spike in sickness within the school.
Nehru said Kinsa is creating a more connected healthy society.
“Kinsa reinvented the thermometer,” Nehru said. “The thermometer is the first device parents turn to when they suspect an illness. What the Kinsa thermometer does is it turns the thermometer into a communication platform.”
Kasitz said the Kinsa smart thermometer is a win-win for Wichita Public Schools. Although she said she does not have empirical evidence that proves a decrease in sick children coming to school since the partnership, Kasitz said she has received a wealth of positive feedback from parents.
Kinsa is used in school districts across the country. When Kinsa approached USD 259 about a possible partnership with a limited number of elementary schools, Kasitz said she wanted the opportunity for all of them.
“We found that we do have a lot of families that send kids to school because they don’t have a thermometer at home, and they wait until the nurse takes their temperature and sends them back home,” Kasitz said. “So this is a real benefit for everyone.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 5:01 AM.