Revere Schools Fighting Flu Season with Smart Thermometer

Four Revere schools are participating in a national school health program aimed to keep kids healthy this school year through technology. They are part of this year’s FLUency, a national health program by Kinsa, a company that makes smart thermometers to help parents and school nurses know what illnesses are going around their schools.
With the help of Lysol, Kinsa is providing all families in the participating Revere schools with free smart thermometers that connect to the Kinsa app so parents can see what illnesses like strep throat, chicken pox, and lice are going around their schools.

The four Revere schools are the Beachmont, Whalen, Garfield and Lincoln and are among the 500 available spots nationally for the program.

FLUency’s Jared Flamm said the program was launched a few years ago as a test to see if FLUengy and the app would better help school nurses.

“All that participated in that pilot program reported that it was a help,” said Flamm. “So the way the program works is that school nurses submit an application to be part of the program and are accepted based on criteria they outline and whether or not the program will be beneficial to their school.”

Since the program started in the four Revere schools, over 700 of the smart thermometers have been handed out to Revere school parents.

Student sick days take a toll on families, cost districts millions of dollars in funding, and negatively affect student achievement.
​FLUency is a philanthropic program that reduces the spread of illness in elementary schools. The FLUency program connects Revere parents and school staff on issues of student health, enabling quicker detection of spreading illness and rapid response to help keep students well and in class.

One of the goal of the program, said Flamm, is to also decrease the workload on overly taxed school nurses in Revere by arming families with thermometers so sick children are not sent in to school to see the nurse. The technology also helps school nurses in Revere know what trends are going around their school so they can react appropriately and encourage preventive health measures to keep healthy students well.

“What we’ve heard from school nurses in Revere and across the state is come Monday morning during flu season there’s a line out the door at the school nurse’s office,” said Flamm. “So the program gives parents and nurses that extra tool they need for early detection and also tracking what illnesses may be spreading around any given school and plan accordingly, like encouraging students and staff to wash their hands more often or disinfecting classrooms.”