I read Tony Zizza's article from last week stating that a nurse in every school is a sick idea. Although I am a school nurse in the suburbs of New York City, I was sent the article from my Nurse Coordinator as it was posted in a publication called the School Nurse Digest. The cost for nurses that he listed sounded like a ridiculous amount of money. I bet if he asked the taxpayers to offset the cost via their local school budget, there would not be much objection.
The days of the school nurse just "handing out medicine" are gone.
I alone have about 600 kids in my school which is K-5.
In an average day I treat about 35-50 kids. My collogues have the same volume especially during flu and Strep throat season. The larger schools require two nurses. State mandates demand visual and auditory screening and health appraisals, tracking of immunizations and communicable diseases and most recently Body Mass Index reporting. This has to be done while your treating kids who can't breathe, break limbs on the playground, teachers who experience chest pains and cafeteria workers who sustain severe lacerations.
Surely Mr. Zizza is not aware of The American's With Disability Act which was signed by a Republican, George H.W. Bush in 1990. Among other things, this act states that children are to be educated in the least restricted environment. We have children in wheel chairs who require urinary catheterizations, a quadriplegic who gets around in a motorized wheel chair, diabetics as young as 5 years old that require insulin injections or who are on a pump. Us nurses need to calculate the carbohydrates they will eat to plan their dosages. Statistics prove that children with Asthma no longer miss valuable instruction in school because us school nurses can administer nebulizer treatments. Perhaps Mr. Zizza would like to visit a school health room. Don't worry if the nurse is in, she doesn't get a lunch break.
Ask the parents if they think we are too costly. Actually I think we are priceless.
Chris Pollard, RN
White Plains, New York
