Heidi Schumacher, M.D. ’10, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont (UVM) Larner College of Medicine and a pediatrician at the Golisano Children’s Hospital at UVM Health, studies how strong partnerships between schools, health services, and families can boost attendance in rural areas.

Dr. Schumacher is the principal investigator for Every Day Counts, an initiative funded by UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships that aims to reduce absenteeism in Vermont schools. Every Day Counts supports pilot projects in four schools to strengthen coordination with local health care providers to prevent and respond to absenteeism and its root causes. It also fills a gap in the scientific literature—most scholarship on health care partnerships to address absenteeism focuses on urban populations.

“There are clear data to show that kids who miss just two days of school a month are less likely to meet their academic milestones. School absenteeism can be both an indicator of an unmet health or social need and also a strong predictor of long-term health and well-being.” — Heidi Schumacher, M.D. ’10

Read more about Dr. Schumacher’s Every Day Counts Initiative

Listen to a Living Healthy Together podcast on ‘Healthy Starts: Kids, Classrooms, and Care’