In 2020, I watched countless headlines in Houston media that chronicled the absence of thousands of students that were missing from class. Yet the students did not disappear, they simply were not able to attend classes during the global pandemic because they lacked access to devices and the internet.

This issue of the digital divide wasn’t unique to Houston, the disparity in internet access was happening across America. In fact, in 2019, the Federal Communications Commission estimated that over 20 million Americans didn’t possess strong broadband access.

In  July, I was tasked to lead a new nonprofit organization in Houston called Link Health. At Link Health, our organization leverages the health sector to connect patients to the Affordable Connectivity Program and close the digital divide in healthcare.

The organization was founded by an emergency room physician and Harvard University Professor, Dr. Alister Martin, who tapped university students to serve as fellows and digital equity ambassadors. The fellows and ambassadors are placed in clinics and hospitals to actively enroll patients into the Affordable Connectivity Program while they wait to see the doctors. These college students are attacking the problem with fervor and urgency!

In Houston, over 400,000 households are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program, but there has only been a 30% adoption rate. Through our partnership with healthcare systems like Legacy Community Health, San Jose Clinic and Lone Star Health Center we have an opportunity to enroll over 200,000 people who are current patients of those systems. In our work, we found that many of those patients that are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program need support in completing the application, uploading documentation and then getting the actual discount applied to their internet service account. Our team is there from start to finish in this process.

Although our program is new, we have found success in our clinic- to- community partnerships. Our team has screened over 10,000 patients and enrolled almost 1,000 families into the program. We estimate that through Affordable Connectivity Program enrollments we have helped families save over $290,000 on home internet and our work is just beginning.

We recognize that the Affordable Connectivity Program is slated to sunset when the funds are exhausted. However, in the meantime, our student-led organization will continue to meet people where they are. We will move forward with bringing on new clinical partners and guiding their patients to receive access to these necessary discounts. To broaden our reach, we are sharing resources and marketing material for community health sites that include posters, RX discharge paperwork, brochures and other graphics that promote the ACP.

While news stations are no longer constantly covering stories about students’ connectivity challenges, the issue is still extremely prevalent in many communities. At Link Health we want to assist eligible families in connecting to the internet so that they have access to other resources like telehealth. Opening up access to the internet is one sure fire way to address social determinants of health and we are poised to connect people to the world.

Ar’Sheill Monsanto is the manager of Link Health, which connects patients to broadband access. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.

In 2011 at the MoBroadbandNow Summit in Missouri, I listened to the CIO of the City of Springfield explain why his city included teenagers in important broadband needs assessment and planning meetings. “In your home, who do you call when you’re trying to figure out how to use the VCR?”

His point? Springfield learned a valuable lesson: Teens push the edges of technology, and understand how to use technology better than many adults do. Therefore, it is imperative to include teenagers in the planning of what is and will be their main future technologies. The brain power and the creativity alone will lead to the success of tapping this demographic.

Fast forward to 2023. How many communities are leveraging their teen populations in the pursuit of broadband and digital equity? “Kids want to get a look into the future,” said Kevin Morris in a video. “That’s the thing that drives many of them in school.” Morris talks to many students as the director of college, careers and community services for the Duarte Unified School District.

What about their future in broadband, I wondered, when a friend talked to me about her efforts to recruit internship positions for the K12 Foothill Consortium? Many of the high school students in the Consortium are anxious to intern remotely or in-person near their homes in Southern California. It hit me — take the Springfield model of teen engagement to the rest of America!

Imagine the possibilities for local broadband or digital equity teams, local government and nonprofits if they can channel bright, tech-savvy, energetic, inquisitive teens on a mission to help bring the digital equity solutions to communities. Remote or in person interns can help with focus groups, town halls logistics, preparing and writing newsletters, usability testing and Affordable Connectivity Program enrollments.

The K12 Foothill Consortium is recruiting internship hosts for the June through August period and for at least 60 hours total. Those groups and organizations engaged with broadband and digital inclusion projects get the benefit of interns’ prior training in coding, health care, web design, engineering and other related disciplines. Since interns prefer paid internships, the Consortium also raises money for organizations that may be too cash-strapped to offer a stipend but can offer meaningful internships.

Photo of Career Technical Education students courtesy of the K12 Foothill Consortium

Internship hosts view the relationships as a win-win for everyone involved. Ivan Ayro, director of adult and career technical education at Charter Oak Unified School District, agrees. “Students are able to connect the educational experience they’re getting from Career Technical Education classes with real-life experience from workplace learning. Through the internships, many of our students are able to realize in high school if this is something that they want to do for the rest of their lives.”

A recent US News & World Report article states that, although internships are traditionally for college students, high school students increasingly are participating in them. Benjamin Caldarelli, co-founder of Princeton College Consulting, a New Jersey-based educational consulting company, said, “High school students want to work somewhere that interests them and potentially make what they feel is a more meaningful contribution. They see internships as an enrichment activity and opportunity to make an impact rather than simply trading time for a little money.”

More than 205,000 new jobs will need to be created to complete the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment expansion plans, many of them skilled workers. “There is a lot of focus placed on building broadband networks, but we cannot build them without a proper workforce,” Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton said in a press release. “Failure to ensure the availability of high-skilled labor will result in workforce bottlenecks, which will ultimately lead to higher costs and project delays.”

The National Telecommunications and Information Association is requiring every state to have a five-year workforce development strategy. FBA published a guidebook to help states develop that strategy. Broadband and digital inclusion teams need to pencil in “internships” as part of their plans.

High school broadband and digital inclusion interns may not be considered skilled workers, obviously, but the interns should be considered the beginning levels of workforce development campaigns in every community. Start people thinking about broadband and all things digital in high school and use internships to shape their college or post-high school plans. Don’t forget that Gen Z can be an important part of broadband discussions, even if they’re not interns.

Amy Foell, principal of Amy Foell Consulting LLC, heads the K12 Foothill Consortium for Azusa, Charter Oak, Duarte and Monrovia Unified School Districts’ CTE. Their mission is to educate and train students to provide a community-sourced talent pool to sustain a healthy, balanced, local economy. Foell also supports workforce development programs across the San Gabriel Valley, including Pasadena Unified School District.

“I like to have an initial phone call and 15 to 20 Zoom sessions to ensure prospective internship sites understand the program,” said Foell. “Before we meet, it’s advisable to create a brief description of the internship project — be sure to share the organization’s purpose and mission. We’ll help hosts identify and interview candidates in May to early June, and students can start mid-June.”

Craig Settles conducts needs analyses, planning, and grant assessments with community stakeholders who want broadband networks and telehealth to improve economic development, healthcare, education and local government. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.

By one estimate, there are over 400,000 healthcare-related apps at the App Store. But what’s a Telehealth Access Point?

TAPs are self-contained spaces that are furnished with an internet connection, a computing device equipped with a camer­­­­a, speaker and microphone, and a dedicated private room or kiosk open to the general public. It is telehealth broken down to its essential elements.

A TAP could be a blessing if a person having a mental health crisis needs a safe place. Rural residents can find TAPs are low-pressure environments to try out telehealth. TAPs at trusted places such as barbershops, hairdressers, or churches are places to go for appointments when people don’t have Internet accounts, laptops or their smart phone is data-capped out.

“The Find Telehealth app located at our webssite is a tool that helps people find TAPs if they need them, and the app will help these established TAPs become better utilized by their communities,” said Jaleen Johnson, program manager for the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center and the Utah Education and Telehealth Network. “TAPs are scalable at many different levels. These typical locations you’ve described would have the basic necessities for a TAP, though some across the region have added features.”

Nicki Perisho, program director for NRTRC, continued, “Currently TAPs are live, but we have been marketing it as only being available in the Northwest Region (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah). Not all the regional TRC’s have the same telehealth mapping functionality. There is another mapping project being utilized by five of the other TRCs that is still in beta testing.”

Location data can be entered by NRTRC, individuals that run the TAPs and individuals independently finding TAPs after NRTRC verifies it. TAPs do not provide medical services, just access to the Internet and a device to connect to a telehealth appointment. There is no charge for that access at this time.

TAPs, strategically speaking

TAPs have a wonderful potential to impact telehealth deployments, especially if communities maximize TAPs’ public health value with a plan, some thought and a little kick-ass marketing strategy.

Every state is working feverishly to produce statewide broadband plans as well as digital inclusion plans by in Fall. Then true craziness begins as local broadband teams start jockeying for millions of federal and state dollars. Public health official and stakeholders need to leverage these planning activities with health needs assessment to determine where TAPs can play.

Poor people are in a crisis of poor health!

Right off the bat there’s a market need for TAPs because 25 percent of U.S. homes do not have internet access, often due to affordability issues. A little research will uncover that those who can’t afford broadband have trouble keeping food on the table, they don’t have insurance or regular doctors, and they have a higher propensity to be chronically sick or unhealthy. Consider broadband and telehealth the double-edged sword of digital health.

Health Affairs, a leading journal of health policy, wrote recently that “Poor adults are five times as likely as those with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty level to report being in poor or fair health. Low-income Americans have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other chronic conditions, compared to higher-income Americans.” TAPs can or should be a part of every digital equity plan.

TAPs are ideal for trusted spaces

In Cleveland, two Urban Kutz barbershops have been screening customers’ blood pressures for 12 years. Owner Waverly Willis said, “I find at least 90 percent of my customers have high blood pressure, and many don’t know about the dangers of hypertension.” Other than the church, there’s not a more trusted place for TAPs to find sanctuary than the barbershop or hairdresser for African Americans.

And speaking of the church, quite a few churches of every domination worked overtime tackling COVID-19 prevention and detection. Often there were lines at the door and down the street for COVID testing and vaccinations. Thematically and logically, churches where you go to heal the sick or better yet, prevent illness and sicknesses in the first place. Move from church TAPs to telehealth in the home.

“The general principle of TAPs fits well with a specific initiative that addresses middle mile and anchor institution priorities, what we’re calling Connectivity Hubs,” said Andrew Butcher, president of the Maine Connectivity Authority. “A perfect example is a library system that will be upgrading a facility for telehealth utilization, device lending and infrastructure upgrades.” It seems logical to integrate public library systems with TAPs.

TAPs are good for the telehealth ecosystem

Digital equity needs an ecosystem that includes telehealth, and TAPs can be part of the picture. Wireless ISP Vistabeam launched their Empowerment Center in Torrington, Wyoming to foster digital inclusion among residents. The Center has a fulltime digital navigator, telehealth tools and capabilities, and remote doctor visits. Community facilities such as the Center can be added to the TAP map.

“It’s interesting to me because I can see TAPs becoming a part of an ecosystem since we recognize that telehealth is a priority,” said Brandon Carson, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. “We’re investing into a deployment to improve access in areas and we’re looking to future proof of these networks as well. We are developing our programming to account for new innovations like these TAPs.”

Jason Welch, Infiniti Mobile President, said, “By expanding the ecosystem beyond broadband and telehealth providers to also include healthcare organizations themselves, there’s a unique opportunity to educate as well as treat patients.” TAPs, besides giving individuals access to telehealth, can also be health education centers.

It’s time to work plans for TAPs into the fabric of digital inclusion and broadband infrastructure plans. Start your planning with the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers and pick the TRC for your particular state. These centers provide consultation, resources and news at no cost.

Craig Settles conducts needs analyses, planning, and grant assessments with community stakeholders who want broadband networks and telehealth to improve economic development, healthcare, education and local government. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.