Wednesday, January 27, 1999
School nurses do more
Health role evolves into education
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLD SPRING — Sandy Bunting, RN, splits her work days among two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
She monitors children with injuries and those who need daily medication. She teaches staff about keeping students and themselves healthy. She works on programs to make the school building safe.
When she gets the time, she teaches lessons on puberty and dental hygiene.
And she deals with head lice on a daily basis.
“That's the thing kids most identify us with, is lice,” Ms. Bunting said Tuesdaywhile working at Cline Elementary. “But there are times when they come in and walk toward you and when they recognize you, they real ize we are there for everything.”
The life of a school nurse isn't what it was in 1977, when the National Association of School Nurses established School Nurse Day, being celebrated at schools today.
Back then, the nurse handled all health-related issues, making checks for lice, vision and hearing.
The scene was a little different in Kentucky, where there is no state requirement for school nurses.
In 1977, Genie Willhite was the only school nurse for the Campbell County Schools. Ten years ago, Ms. Bunting joined her. And since then, two other nurses have been hired. One works through a grant to help improve student attendance. The other works full time at the middle school.
Now Ms. Willhite is the district's director of school health services and the nurse at the high school. Her job is to make everyone responsible for making good health a part of the overall educational ex perience.
“If it's just up to the nurse, then there are too many gaps,” Ms. Willhite said. “If everyone looks at the total picture, then we will achieve a program that will be a lot better.”
The big change is the increase in the number of students who require medical procedures during the day, such as tube feedings or breathing assistance — mainly due to mainstreaming efforts.
Though school nurses deal with more complicated issues these days, they also focus on the basics, like making sure all students have the opportunity to wash their hands before lunch, Ms. Bradley said.
According to the National Association of School Nurses, there are more school nurses today than there were 20 years ago. But the student-to- nurse ratio varies from state to state.
Vermont has the best rate, with one nurse for every 441 students. Tennessee has the worst, with one school nurse for every 10,814 students.
Kentucky has one school nurse for every 1,522 students.
Ms. Willhite likes students to see her and her staff as nurses in a hospital or doctor's office — people who do more than make simple checks.
In many schools, the routine assignments such as administering medicine and applying Band-Aids is left to school secretaries, who are trained in CPR and first aid.
Nurses like Ms. Willhite and Ms. Bunting also spend time working on ways to coordinate health programs with the school curriculum.
The district is doing an assessment of its health programs, working to see how each school performs in eight areas: health education, physical education, health services, nutrition services, psychological and social counseling, a healthy school environment, health promotion for the school staff, and parent and community involvement.
Once programs are assessed, the district will devote four years to making improvements and changes.
Ms. Bunting said she would love for every school to have its own nurse. But until schools received the funding, her goal is to get to know the students she works with.
“It does make a difference,” she said. “It's a personal issue. If they know you a little bit, they feel more comfortable; and parents feel like we are not picking on students, but monitoring them.”
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