A Cork teenager who suffers from spina bifida and who is regularly hospitalised will from now on be able to continue his normal studies using a computer link between the Cork University Hospital and his school, Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh.
Gary McSweeney, aged 13, often misses out on normal class activity at the Bishopstown school simply because he cannot attend. But the new move, made possible by the Southern Health Board (SHB) and Microsoft, means that in future he will receive the same tuition as the rest of his classmates.
Until now, when Gary has been hospitalised, he has had to avail of classes provided by a teacher in the hospital. But the two-way live link between his own class and the hospital will give him full access to the daily school routine and keep him abreast of all that is happening.
Launching what he described as the first interactive school in Ireland at the hospital yesterday, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, said the damage caused to children due to absence from school had not been fully appreciated until recently.
The thinking now was that no child should be educationally disadvantaged because of hospitalisation. "In a hospital setting, the health and educational needs of a child overlap," he added.
The SHB says that St Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital in Cork also has a computer link to a system which allows hospital-based teachers to remain in touch with various wards as well as schools. In the years ahead, the board says, the system may be expanded to include links to other hospital schools around the world.