‘Sick students need support’

When the hospital is the classroom

Vicky McClure was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, a birth defect that kept her in and out of the hospital during her childhood and adolescence. “I missed a lot of school and I was bullied — it was really hard on me,” she recalls. “I could have been a lost person, but I strived to be different and to help others.”

Growing up, she wanted be a pediatrician, then a nurse, but ultimately became a special education teacher with the Chicago Public Schools. McClure, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union, worked in special education for nearly a decade when she was offered the opportunity to become a hospital teacher with the school system. The CPS Home and Hospital Instruction Program provides continuous instruction by a certified teacher to any student whose academic programs are interrupted because of physical or mental illness. The program keeps students in academic and instructional contact with the schools they attend, and facilitates a seamless reintegration back to school. Hospital teachers do a three-year rotation on pediatric units at Chicago area hospitals, rehabilitation centers and trauma hospitals.

“Sick students need support. Unfortunately, not all teachers know how to provide that support.”

“Sick students need support. Unfortunately, not all teachers know how to provide that support,” McClure says. For her, this care is second nature. McClure grew up in a suburb of Chicago and struggled academically because she spent a lot of time in the hospital, and her school district didn’t have a program like the one she works with today.

During her career, McClure produced an interactive cable television program for Chicago students with chronic medical conditions and took part in CPS Home Hospital Instructional Services. She also developed curriculum for a video to discourage bullying for students with sickle cell anemia. “The video has been used in a number of Chicago public schools,” says McClure, “to help students and staff understand the effects of sickle cell anemia on students medically and educationally.”

Currently, McClure works with four to five students a day at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. McClure manages to plug herself into her students’ therapeutic day working as teacher, case manager and social worker all rolled into one. Although she has an office area in the hospital and access to a classroom, most of her instruction takes place at the bedside.

“A kind word, a caring person, and someone who understands that they need time to process and heal helps.”

McClure works closely with classroom teachers and school staff along with school nurses to provide instruction and comply with the students’ 504 plan or students’ individual education plan. “I vividly remember my experience and how I was treated, and I don’t want that to happen to these children who are sick,” she says. “Our program is very valuable; we are a mighty team.”
McClure has had countless teachable moments in the hospital and students’ homes. For example, when she was assigned to John Stroger Hospital, she hesitated to take the assignment because her oldest son was taken to the same hospital after an incident of gun violence and later died. “I thought it would be more traumatic,” says McClure, “but it became therapeutic to me, because I was able to share my experience with other parents.”

She loves it when it’s just her and a student — helping the child deal with trauma. “Students are honest and upfront. You just have to have the right response.” Many of the trauma students are already desensitized to violence because they see it regularly in their communities, schools and on social media, says McClure. “It is difficult for them to process what has happened when they are the victims of violence. A kind word, a caring person, and someone who understands that they need time to process and heal helps,” she says. “As hospital teachers, we provide the support students need as they are recovering by being the liaison to the school and being a trusted person who cares.”

Vicky McClure is a National Board Certified special education teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience and a member of the Chicago Teachers Union.