Wilmington Magazine Jan-Feb 2023

Health Innovation, a student can remotely
“visit” with a licensed nurse practitioner
who is qualified to treat certain medical
conditions and prescribe medicine without
the direct supervision of a doctor. Parents
can join in from work or home.
“We’re here to offer efficiency and
convenience. The earlier we can get a
diagnosis, the easier it is to treat, and the
sooner the student can return to school
and learning,” explains Rowe.
At PATH, no teacher is left behind. Any
Pender County School employee can use
PATH’s services.
“Last year, we served about 1,500 students
and 200 teachers/staff,” says Rowe.
In recent years, Rowe has turned
her attention to mental health care.
Although PATH has, since its early days,
offered mental health services through a
partnership with Coastal Horizons, the
results of a survey PATH sent to students
in 2019 exposed some disturbing statistics.
“Thirty percent of our nine to eighteenyear-olds
were flagged positively for
depression,” says Rowe. “Seven to nine
percent flagged positively for suicidal
ideation. And this was pre-pandemic.”
Armed with this information, PATH
staff, school counselors and Coastal
Horizons therapists were on hand to treat
January /February 2023 | 37