President's Message: Dear Members: Great news! We are offering our annual School Nurse Day celebration virtually on Wednesday, May 6th at 4:30pm. Please look for an invitation coming your way soon! Dave Cranny, from School Health, will be our guest speaker and we will be celebrating several award recipients including announcing the winners of our Science Fair and our Above and Beyond Award recipient. We will discuss scholarships with members and honoring those school nurses who are retiring this year. If you, or a school nurse you know, is retiring this year, would you please let me know at mwest@franicsparker.org. Finally, we will have an open forum for discussion about the challenges, rewards and successes we, as school nurses, are experiencing during this challenging time. More great news! CSNO now has an Executive Director. Sheri Coburn, Past State CSNO President, has accepted the position and will be working as our Executive Director two days per week starting April 1st. And, our CSNO SD-I section has a new President-elect, Jackie Stiles from Ramona School District. We are thrilled to have her on the Board! If you are interested in joining our section board please contact me at mwest@francisparker.org. One of the wonderful speakers at our state CSNO conference this year was from the ACLU. Please see the attached information concerning all the good works the ACLU is participating in for our students and staff: https://www.publicadvocates.org/righttoresources/ This is certainly a stressful time for our students, staff and for school nurses as we deal with all the changes the COVID-19 pandemic crisis brings. As we all practice social distancing, I believe we must also practice wellness. Here are some ideas for socially-distant but highly-engaging activities:
Reconnect: Set up virtual meet-ups with old friend and not so old friends
Show gratitude: Send an email or note of appreciation
Feed yourself and others: Share a healthy recipe
Feed your mind: Join or create a virtual book club
Express yourself: Create, draw, paint, write
Decompress: Take a bath, or a long walk in the beautiful outdoors. Practice mindfulness.
Stream happiness: Enjoy the many free online concerts, plays and venues
Have a laugh: Share a good joke!
Help others: Donate blood or help serve meals to the underserved
Reminisce: Journal
I am terming out as the President of our SD-I section and wonderful Corinne McCarthy will be stepping into the role on July 1st. I want to thank you all for the privilege of being your president. I am truly honored to have held the position for the past two years.
Take Care and Be Well, Maggie
What School Nurses Can Do When Working At Home: School nurses are vital in assisting our communities through this unprecedented time. Below is a list of ideas on how school nurses can continue their important work when quarantined at home:
Be the point person for COVID-19 data as the only medical professional “on” campus.
Be in contact with teachers, staff and administration regularly to let them know you are available for questions and concerns.
Check immunizations for our new students—make records and check for accuracy. Follow up with families that need immunizations prior to the next school year
Send out notices to our upcoming 7th grade students about the need for a Tdap shot and to our kindergarten students about the mandated shots for school entry next school year.
Check medical records and reach out to parents with student who have medical issues
Review your health concerns list for accuracy
Post COVID-19 updates on school webpage
Monitor WHO, CDC, CDPH and local San Diego public health websites for latest information
Offering “wellness ideas” for staff and their families to do at home…have a weekly update of wellness ideas/activities sent in a newsletter to our staff as well as our families.
Weekly newsletter to families (sent digitally) about a variety of topics not just COVID-19
Update health information, procedures, policies.
Attend virtual staff meetings.
Update ISHPs for your students with chronic conditions. There are templates on the SDCOE website.
Read CSNO’s Green Book packed with valuable information. There is a new section on asthma recently released. The Green Book on the CSNO website and will be electronically sent to you.
Work on Cardiac Emergency Response plans for your campus. This is now a state law. Eric Parades Save A Life Foundation has templates.
Tracking students/staff/families with illnesses and following up to see how they are doing.
Update the health/nursing section of your district/school’s website with what the school nurse does, what forms are available, best practice, when to send a student home sick, school health protocols/policies.
Work on a pandemic response plan for your facility. This will take a lot of work!! There is a template on the San Diego County Office of Education site. Tie this in with your disaster preparedness plan.
Write policy for nasal glucagon use. There is a free program to receive this. Check the SDCOE and CSNO website. Also write a vaping policy and tie this in with the tobacco/substance abuse policy
If you ever were interested in sitting for the NCSN exam now is the time to register and study for it!
Documenting all work that you are doing in a running record format. It is important that the administration knows our value.
