Boeing and Charleston County partner with MUSC to expand mental health resources in schools

The Boeing Co. and Charleston County School District (CCSD) each announced on Sept. 13 a $1 million investment in the Medical University of South Carolina’s (MUSC) Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness (BCCW) to expand the program’s offerings to include resources addressing children’s mental health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding from Boeing and CCSD will support the current school-based wellness initiative while adding mental health supports for schools in Charleston County. Supports will include training for classroom teachers to help children find appropriate coping mechanisms and ways to deal with stress as well as integration of MUSC Telehealth, bringing high-quality, evidence-based, trauma-focused mental health services to children in a school setting. In addition, this funding will support the development of a plan to change and improve the mental health system substantially.

“By coming together through partnership, MUSC, Boeing and the Charleston County School District have seen significant results in reducing childhood obesity and improving student wellness,” said David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, MUSC president. “We are so grateful to our friends at Boeing and CCSD for believing in us, sharing our innovative spirit and remaining such important partners as we seek to improve the well-being of children and their families. These funds will make a significant difference in helping the MUSC Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness to meet the increasing need for mental health support in schools.”

Boeing, a leading global aerospace company with an assembly site for its Commercial Airplanes division located in North Charleston, helped to established the BCCW through its foundational support ten years ago.

“Boeing is incredibly proud of this partnership because together we are building off the success of the MUSC Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness, the expertise of the Medical University of South Carolina and the dedication and commitment of the Charleston County School District to students, staff, and families,” said Jennifer Lowe, vice present of National Strategy and Engagement with Boeing. “With this investment, MUSC and the BCCW will be able to dedicate resources to children’s physical and mental health while creating space for Charleston County School District to focus on their core mission of academic achievement.”

The CCSD is the second-largest school system in South Carolina and serves approximately 49,000 students in 88 schools and specialized programs.

“The provision of high-quality mental health services for our students and robust training for our staff is essential to ensuring our children have the tools they need to begin recovery from the impacts of COVID-19,” said the Rev. Eric Mack, CCSD Board of Trustees chairman. “We know, undoubtedly, that our students have experienced profound loss in many, many ways this past year, and we must find ways to join together as a community to wrap our resources and supports around our most important assets – our children.”

Over the past decade, the MUSC BCCW, which reaches 17 school districts in South Carolina, has focused on wellness and obesity prevention by working directly with schools to implement programs that promote healthy eating, physical activity and social-emotional learning. The programs have demonstrated positive outcomes in connection to body mass index, asthma, school attendance and suspensions/expulsions and high school graduation rates. With Boeing and CCSD’s investment, the MUSC BCCW will expand school wellness to include more targeted mental health support by leveraging relationships with schools, state agencies and MUSC Health’s vast expertise.

“The Boeing Company is once again leading the way in its support of our efforts to address the needs of children through working with schools. They supported our initial work to turn the tide of childhood obesity and have now recognized the current community need – improved mental health services,” said Janice Key, M.D., executive director, Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness.

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About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is home to the oldest medical school in the South as well as the state’s only integrated academic health sciences center, with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. MUSC brought in more than $271 million in biomedical research funds in fiscal year 2020, continuing to lead the state in obtaining National Institutes of Health funding, with more than $129.9 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality patient care available while training generations of competent, compassionate health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Comprising some 2,000 beds, more than 100 outreach sites, the MUSC College of Medicine, the physicians’ practice plan and nearly 275 telehealth locations, MUSC Health owns and operates eleven hospitals situated in Charleston, Chester, Fairfield, Florence, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marion and Richland counties. In 2021, for the seventhconsecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $4.4 billion. The more than 20,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers and scientists who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.