If you’re a parent, there’s no doubt you’ve received the dreaded phone call at least once.

You’re called out of work to pick up your sick child from school so you can wait to see the doctor, sitting in some miserable room filled with parents in the same boat.

That’s why, as students settle into the start of a new school year, we were glad to see parents in the Bowling Green Independent School District catch a break.

Previously, the school district relied on nurses responsible for multiple schools, but this year – thanks to a new partnership with Graves Gilbert Clinic – seven schools are staffed with either a registered nurse, licensed practical nurses or medical assistants. Additionally, two other health care professionals act as “floaters” for the entire district.

It’s good to see students entering a new school year with a fuller slate of health services. The school nurses can test for strep and flu and even conduct vision and hearing tests and physical exams when the situation warrants.

However, the partnership enables more than just additional school-based nurses. A new nurse practitioner, capable of diagnosing and prescribing medications and treatments, is based at Bowling Green High School and is available to all schools through telemedicine. It’s billed much like a walk-in visit, but only if parents consent to the service first.

Ashley Allen, the nurse practitioner, recently described the added benefit to parents to the Daily News.

“If a parent comes in to pick up their child from school, their child’s already been seen, they’re picking up a prescription and going home,” Allen said, comparing that to “having to go to an ER or a walk-in clinic, saving them time.”

This new level of service is especially vital given that the Barren River District Health Department confirmed to the Daily News on Friday that it will be suspending its school nurse program by the end of the calendar year. The department’s director cited financial feasibility as the main factor in the decision.

The move will affect school nurse programs in Barren, Butler, Logan and Simpson counties.

However, as Graves Gilbert Clinic develops its school-based service model, there may be a way to innovate a solution.

“We’ve already been in contact with most of the school systems in the surrounding area. They’re experiencing similar problems,” Graves Gilbert Clinic CEO Chris Thorn told the Daily News.

“We hope to get a good feel for the next couple years as to how telemedicine will work and the applications, not only in school systems, but employers and across the state … That’s our long-term future,” he said.

If these services could be added to neighboring school districts, it’s an obvious benefit that will help students get better faster so they can get back to learning.

No doubt, parents would also breathe a sigh of relief.