In the midst of cold and flu season, PACA invited our wonderful nursing staff to our December meeting. We all know we have a top notch group of nurses here at Columbus Academy, but we had zero clue what they have to offer our children in time of need. The team graciously summarized the meeting so we could share for all who couldn’t attend.
We have extensive backgrounds in critical care from Nationwide Children’s Hospital-combined more than 40 years of critical care nursing
We all are licensed School Nurses-combined more than 30 years as school nurses
And we are mothers-the best preparation for school nursing!
Hours of Nursing Services
Beckie-7am-3pm -4 days a week
Janet-8:30-4:30 pm (sometimes until 5:00)-5 days a week and Summer Experience
Teresa-schedule varies-1 day a week
Overview of Nursing Services
Review every health record before the start of school so that we know the health concerns and prepare emergency care plans for students with life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, food allergies, asthma, and seizures
Review immunizations to make sure we are meeting the state requirements
Provide education to faculty and staff: Epi-pens, CPR, emergency care
Daily care of students visiting the nurse’s office
Vision and Hearing screening for all PK, K, and odd grade levels as mandated by the state
Teach CPR to faculty, staff, and students. We are American Heart Association CPR Instructors. In addition, Janet helps with 9th grade health class
Work closely with Stephanie in the Dining Hall to deal with food allergies and food restrictions. Also, there is an Epi-pen cabinet in the dining hall
Work with school counselors
Go on field trips whenever possible
Administer allergy shots for students when approved by their allergist
We see as many as 100 visits on a busy day
Illnesses at School
We are seeing a lot of viral illnesses- RSV and FLU are on the rise- especially in LS students where students have a weakened immune system. Some kids get much sicker than others and seem to be lasting longer. We need to build back up their immunity which we know is very frustrating and an inconvenience to working parents.
For all childhood illnesses we ask you to keep your child home to minimize the spread of infection and until fever-free or at least 24 hours without the use of Tylenol or Ibuprofen.
We continue to track cases of COVID in school and we are seeing very few cases at this time.
We continue to recommend masking if your child has any cold/COVID/flu symptoms or has had a known COVID exposure
We do not contact trace at this point
We are sending class specific notifications- COVID, Flu, Strep, Whooping Cough, Lice
We currently have received our CLEA Certification to run COVID PCR tests in the office along with rapid strep tests.
We still have a low supply of rapid COVID tests available for students wanting to test out of the 5 day mask mandate after 5 day isolation. You need 2 negative rapid tests 2 days in a row to discontinue wearing a mask. (CDC says 2 neg test 48 hours apart)
Project Adam
We are excited to be partnering with NCH to be certified as a Heart Safe School. This means we will have 6 teams in all 3 divisions including athletics, CASE, and Sage/security.
All team members will be CPR certified and will have access to all student emergency cards on their cell phone.
We will have yearly safety drills reviewing health emergency protocols.
We also have purchased a 6 lead EKG device to help us detect any cardiac issues that may rise during school hours.
If you have concerns about your child or would like us to look at your child for a possible earache, sore throat, vision, and hearing concerns, just give us a call, we are happy to help!!
Our college counseling team will be at our January PACA meeting! January 11th, 8:00am in the Dining Hall. Please join us!
Feel free to contact Heather and Amanda below if you have any questions.
In Viking Spirit,
Heather & Amanda
Heather Hunter (Grace ’23, Gavin ’25, Bennett ’29)
Amanda Lee (Stella ’24)
2022-23 Upper School Lead Parents
a
