School Nurse

Sayyaaġigmata miqłiqtut iḷiḷḷautaġuurut. (Healthier Children Learn Better)

Paġlagivsi miŋuaqtuġvium sapunniaviat qiñiqsitaaġviannun. (Welcome to the school health services homepage.)

Isillaalusi iḷisimasukkuvsi sayaktuġnikun, iḷisimaraksratigun suli tunŋaruanik titiqqamun. (Please check here often for health information, medical alerts, and important dates.)

NUT ALLERGY ALERT: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY FOODS CONTAINING NUTS TO SCHOOL!

The school nurse ensures students are healthy, safe, and ready to learn by providing clinical care, health management, and a healthy school environment.

Primary goals:

  • Protect and promote student health through assessment, first aid, and symptom management.
  • Manage chronic conditions (asthma, diabetes, seizures, allergies) with individualized care plans and medication administration.
  • Prevent illness and injury via immunization checks, screening (vision, hearing), infection control, and safe practice protocols.
  • Provide health education to students, staff, and families to build self-care skills and healthy behaviors.
  • Identify and address social determinants of health and coordinate referrals to community health resources.
  • Support mental health through early identification, crisis intervention, and connections to counseling/services.
  • Maintain accurate health records, follow confidentiality and legal/ethical standards, and ensure regulatory compliance.
  • Prepare for and respond to emergencies (injury, allergic reactions, communicable disease outbreaks) with triage and collaboration.
  • Promote a safe learning environment by advising on policies (medication administration, communicable disease control, health screenings).

Key outcomes (how success is measured):

  • Reduced absenteeism related to health issues.
  • Improved management of chronic conditions at school.
  • Timely emergency response and fewer adverse events.
  • Increased immunization and screening compliance.
  • Better health-related knowledge and behaviors among students and staff.
  • Strong partnerships with families and community health providers.

Collaboration: Works closely with teachers, administrators, families, public health agencies, and healthcare providers to integrate health into the educational mission.

**Norovirus (Stomach Bug**

Overview

Norovirus is a very contagious virus. You can catch it from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. It causes inflammation in your stomach, intestines, or both.

You can get norovirus if tiny particles of feces (poop) or vomit from an infected person get in your mouth. People with norovirus can shed billions of tiny virus particles, and only a few of them can make people sick.

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Norovirus can cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Anyone can be infected with norovirus and get sick. You can have norovirus illness many times in your life. Norovirus illness can be serious, especially for young children and older adults.

Treatment

There is no treatment for this illness, but most people recover within two to three days. It is important to drink extra fluids to prevent dehydration.

Prevention

Wash your hands well

Be aware that:

  • Hand sanitizer does not work well against norovirus
  • You can use hand sanitizers in addition to hand washing, but hand sanitizer is not a substitute for hand washing.
**Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease (coxsackievirus A16)**

Overview

What are the signs or symptoms?

Once a child is exposed to hand, foot, and mouth disease, it takes 3 to 6 days for the first symptoms to appear. This is called the incubation period. It usually starts with a fever, sore throat, and runny nose—much like the common cold—but then a rash with tiny blisters may start to show up on the following body sites:

• Mouth:

o Inner cheeks

o Gums

o Sides of the tongue

o Top of the mouth

• Fingers

• Palms of hands

• Soles of feet

• Buttocks

How is it spread?

•Contact with large droplets that form when a student talks, coughs, or sneezes. These droplets can land on or be rubbed into the eyes, nose, or mouth. Most of these droplets do not remain in the air; they usually travel no more than 3 feet and fall to the ground. •Contact with the respiratory secretions (nasal mucus or saliva) from objects contaminated by students who carry these viruses. How do you control it?

•Instruct students to cover their mouths and noses when sneezing or coughing with a disposable tissue, if possible, or with an arm sleeve if no tissue is available. Teach everyone to wash their hands right after using tissues or having contact with mucus.

•Clean, rinse, or wipe high-touch surfaces and items that may become contaminated.