BOISE, Idaho - Garrett Schram would rather be with his classmates at Meridian's Sawtooth Middle School.

Since August, when he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his hip, the 12-year-old has been largely confined to a bed at St. Luke's Children's Hospital instead of playing football, skateboarding and joking with friends at school.

"Just the hallways between classes," he told the Idaho Statesman. "Especially now, trying not to be down."

"He'd go right now except for his blood counts," Garrett's father, Joe Schram said.

Since Feb. 1, he's been able to interact with his classmates because of new video conferencing technology linking students at St. Luke's with their teachers and peers in Boise-area schools.

Since 2004, St. Luke's hospital school has allowed seriously ill children to continue class work in their beds, or in a special classroom in the pediatric department.

A re-entry program helps children at the end of treatment make their way back into school with the understanding and support of their peers.

But until now, they had little or no contact with teachers and students. Web camera technology only allowed the St. Luke's students to see the teacher in a limited area, and sound and viewing quality were choppy, said Hayley Welch, St. Luke's Children's Hospital School teacher.

Garrett was the first St. Luke's student to use the Microsoft RoundTable System for a 360-degree view of Kathleen Christensen's seventh-grade writing class at Sawtooth Middle School.

 

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