Duke’s Hospital School: 40 Years Of Teaching Young Patients

The Duke University Medical Center’s Hospital School has offered academic instruction and emotional support to young patients — from preschoolers to 12th graders — for nearly four decades.

The school operates in conjunction with Durham Public Schools (DPS) and aims to give children and teens coping with medical issues a sense of normalcy.

With the approaching winter holiday season — which the school describes as “holidates” — sometimes those distractions aren’t at all about the three R’s but instead are just plain fun.

“We do a big Thanksgiving Day parade down the halls, where the kids design floats,” said Hospital School Principal Michael Somers. "We give them balloons, kind of like the balloons in the Macy’s Day Parade. Each holidate has its own theme, and we work to get as many kids connected to that as possible.”

Somers said keeping the kids at the Hospital School connected to the schools in their respective communities is important.

Somers brims with optimism while talking about the unique educational setting. “The goal is a student is going to return to their regular school, wherever they came from,” he said. “And our goal is to keep that connection, to keep them learning, to keep them focused on the return to that school, whether it’s in a week or whether … it’s going to be for another year.”

“Durham would not be Durham without Duke, and I really don’t think Duke would be Duke without Durham.”

Michael Somers, Duke Hospital School Principal

The Hospital School’s classroom instruction primarily takes place at a young patient’s bedside. The teachers and the staff are DPS employees. “If we have students who have needs that don’t allow us to go into the room, we can do that virtually, through Zoom,” said Somers.

Somers is no less enthusiastic when he talks about Durham, where he has lived with his family for nearly 20 years.

“Living in Durham is fantastic,” he said. “I mean, there’s so many great things about living in Durham ... You have all of the diversity, be it diversity of cultures, diversity of races, diversity of religions, diversity of people; you will find any and all of that in Durham.

“I think another great thing is being a parent and having kids here, it is the easiest place to raise a family and have kids,” he added. “We made the decision to live in central Durham and made the decision to send our kids to Durham Public Schools, and it’s been the best thing we could have done for our kids.”

Somers said Duke supports Durham, but quickly pointed out that Durham supports Duke, too. “I don’t think you can have one without the other,” he said. “Durham would not be Durham without Duke, and I really don’t think Duke would be Duke without Durham.”