Round Rock Independent School District recognized St. David’s HealthCare’s efforts to support students and schools during the Distinguished Partner showcase at the Board of Trustees regular meeting in February.
St. David’s HealthCare has demonstrated its commitment to the District as a substantial sponsor of the Round Rock ISD Partners in Education Foundation, and through life-saving health education programs for students and teachers. Recent initiatives include the Drive for Life program, which included a mock trauma scenario and safe driving education; Take10 CPR training; and Stop the Bleed training, which provided 300 teachers with skills to stop life-threatening bleeding, should a student become injured at school.
“At St. David’s HealthCare, our vision is to be the finest care and service organization in the world, and that starts with acting locally at home,” said CEO Jeremy Barclay. “Our partnership with Round Rock ISD allows us to provide life-saving health education programs to our children, as well as the teachers and District staff who serve them. There is a strong correlation between a child’s health and their ability to focus and excel in school. We feel we must support health education that helps prevent injury and illness, and in turn, fosters a healthy and productive learning environment.”
St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center has been a partner with Career & Technical Education (CTE) for many years, including their allowance of senior year health science students to perform six-week rotations through more than 12 different departments. Students are allowed an opportunity to observe and learn from professionals in a variety of fields within the facility to help them better determine their future career goals.
St. David’s Healthcare staff led a Stop the Bleed training for all 170 CTE staff members during summer professional development in 2017 and 2018. Also in 2017, they offered entry-level employment opportunities to students that would be staying in the Austin area for college; employed students could qualify for tuition reimbursement as they went to school and worked.
Over the years, St. David’s Healthcare staff members have been very active on campus advisory committees, as classroom guest speakers regarding various healthcare careers, and as speakers during teacher professional development.
They participated in the District’s teacher externship program for the past two years, where they hosted teachers for three days of summer job shadowing so that the experience and knowledge gained are shared with teacher’s students.
Later this spring, St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center will launch the Young Athlete Heart Screenings program, partnering directly with athletic trainers at Round Rock ISD high schools to provide free heart screenings to student-athletes.
“We are grateful for St. David’s HealthCare’s dedication to our District and the Round Rock community, and look forward to our continued partnership. It is partnerships like this one with St. David’s that make our schools exemplary and thoroughly prepare our students for a career,” said Superintendent Steve Flores, Ph.D.
