Richard Carroll Elementary spotlights telehealth open house for families

Parents who stopped by Richard Carroll Elementary’s telehealth open house got the basics first: Bamberg Family Practice telehealth visits start with a scheduled appointment, and patients receive a link by text or email when the provider is ready. For families trying to keep up with school, work and care for a child, that simple setup was the point of the May 18 event.

Bamberg Family Practice says it has two full-time telehealth providers, Bretta Kittrell, FNP, and Faren Stroman, FNP. The practice describes telehealth as a dedicated, full-time service that only requires internet access and a device such as a smartphone, tablet or computer with audio and video capability. The school posting placed the open house alongside other May notices from Richard Carroll Elementary, underscoring how closely local health care and school life now overlap in Bamberg County.

The appeal for rural families is practical. Palmetto Care Connections says school-based telehealth allows a child to be examined, diagnosed and treated by a Bamberg Family Practice provider while at school. The group says that approach can reduce missed class time for students and missed work for parents or guardians, and has said the program can also help reduce absences, improve classroom behavior, cut emergency department visits and lower medical costs.

Richard Carroll Elementary is already part of that larger network. Palmetto Care Connections’ Bamberg County directory lists the school as both a Primary Care-School Based Clinic site and a Trauma Focused CBT-School Based Clinic site. The county directory also includes Bamberg Family Practice, Bamberg County EMS Acute Care, Bamberg County Office on Aging Primary Care, Bamberg-Ehrhardt Middle School, Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School, Denmark-Olar Elementary School, Denmark-Olar Middle School and Denmark-Olar High School.

The outreach is not new. Palmetto Care Connections has previously held telehealth information events at Richard Carroll Elementary, Bamberg-Ehrhardt Middle School and Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School, using booths to explain the school-based program and clinic hours. Family Health Centers says it serves medically underserved residents of Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun and Upper Dorchester counties, a reminder of how much of the region still depends on local access points for routine and specialty care.

That need can be especially sharp when families face specialty visits far from home. In March 2026, Bretta Kittrell said some pediatric orthopedic cases still require travel to Columbia or Charleston, about an hour away. For Bamberg County parents, telehealth is being presented not as a convenience, but as a way to keep more care within reach.