David Casado: Keeping schools open for kids in Spain's hospitals

David Casado Rodriguez and his daughter, Sandra.

 

By the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit Madrid, David Casado Rodríguez was already an old hand at telecommuting. A specialist in delivery and integrated operations for IBM Services in Spain, David started working from home five years ago, when the younger of his two daughters was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease. For two years, she was under care at Hospital Universitario La Paz, and David split his time between his home office and the children's ward at the hospital.

"I changed my career to work at home," says David, who still takes his daughter, Sandra, to the hospital for outpatient treatment.

David has seen firsthand how important school is for children receiving treatment at the hospital. Some of them go to a classroom at the hospital. Others are visited by teachers, who bring the classes to their rooms. For all of them, school represents a break from their hospital routines, a window into the outside world, a chance to grow.

"Some of the kids are there for two, three, four years," David says. "They need the school."
Yet when the coronavirus hit Spain, teachers could no longer come to the hospital. For the eight children at La Paz, it seemed that school was over.

David saw a way to keep it alive. He knew that, in response to the crisis, IBM and Cisco were helping schools and hospitals throughout Spain by providing free video links. Cisco provides its Webex teleworking and collaboration tool, while IBM Services helps the institutions get Webex up and running.

David recognized that Webex could keep the hospital school open. Working with the tech team at La Paz, he established video links connecting children to their teachers. "The kids were so excited," he says. "One of them put on a necktie, because he was going to be 'on TV.'"

With the video software, the children can see not only their teachers, but each other. The online classes have been such a success that David is now working to extend the service to other hospital schools in Spain.

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