GainesvilleMoms.com

This is a message from another mom...who received this note home? I did not.

"I live in Alachua County Florida and this is the note that we as parents all received from the school my son goes to

IMPORTANT!! Please help us keep our school nurses. In case you have not heard, at this time the County Commission did not vote unanimously to fund the majority of the elementary school nurses out of the CHOICE fund. "

Basically, this means that Mrs. Chestnut (cmchestnut@alachuacounty.us) voted against keeping nurses in the elementary schools for our children. some random teacher or receptionist will be taking care of the medical needs of our children. our family needs our nurse. quite frankly, it seems a little DUMB to me to take medical care away from these kids. for some kids, like Ryan, the nurse does more than put band-aids on boo-boos. She makes sure he is safe, and that his needs are being met. she will be giving him medication if he has a headache. for other kids, seeing the school nurse may be the only medical attention they see...PERIOD. she checks the menu daily to make sure the kids with food allergies don't eat something they aren't supposed to. the school nurse is important!

if you live in Alachua county. OR if you dont and you just believe this is WRONG! email Mrs. Chestnut. voice your concern. my son may not be safe at school without a nurse to help him. to recognize his seizures, to take care of him when he has a migraine.

thanks for listening!"

Actually, it's unfortunate but this type of cut is becoming more common. Right now our school shares a nurse with another elementary school. She's at our school half of the time. Otherwise, it is one of the school secretaries that takes care of the sick children. She's trained in CPR etc. so she's as prepared as she can be for an emergency situation. She also administers the medications and works with the parents of those children with allergies.

I personally feel that if it comes down to having to cut special activities such as music, gym, art etc. or having to cut the school nurse, I'm for cutting the nurse. I would be more concerned with whether they are cross-training the office staff properly.

I have already emailed Mrs. Chestnut. If you have healthy children that attend public school then it wouldn't seem like a necessity to have a school nurse. But quite frankly there are alot of children attending public schools with many medical issues. And, as a nurse I am offended that one would think a secretary or office personal should be able to recognize and treat sick/injured children. I would also not want to be the office person who is responsible for those children. Somehow when we were in school there was money for art,music, and school nurses. What happened?

What happened? Have you seen food prices, gas prices etc. etc. lately. All of the price hikes that effect us, effect the school systems as well. Not to mention all of these programs that have been implemented since I was in school. Now schools can't serve just any meal, they have to adhere to increasingly stricter guidelines. School districts have had to expand their facilities to meet the needs of many more students than they once had. School districts around here hire individuals to aid those with the most severe illnesses/disabilities.

I should clarify myself as well. I am not stating that a secretary or staff member has the same credentials as a nurse. Of course there is a definite advantage to having a school nurse on hand. However, if it comes down to having to cut classes, or cut the school nurse, I'm for cutting the school nurse. This, on the assumption that the staff member/s are properly trained in emergency situations as well as administering medicine and taking care of basic illnesses.

My assumptions here may not fit in with your school districts state, I don't know. As I stated above, specialists are hired to deal one on one with those children with the most severe illnesses/disabilities. As far as the staff members are concerned, they are aware of the fact that part time nurse will be part of their job description prior to hiring in.

I don't mean to attack anyone, and without knowing the exact circumstances under which this decision is being made I can't come to a conclusive decision.

Mama C-
Just curious, did you get any kind of response from Ms. Chesnut's office?

She did reply and stated that no votes have been taken re: the funding of school nurses. Interesting, could our source be a hoax?

I'm not offended at all by any comments, hopefully mine are also nonoffensive. You know I'm just passionate about nursing and children. I would not want any important programs to suffer due to the need for a school nurse. It's a difficult situation. I respect the opinion of all.

I'm glad to hear that MamaC. I too would hate to see any programs suffer because of lack of funding.

I think it's definitely not a hoax. My editor just walked by and said something about a letter to the editor that involved the situation about school nurses being cut. I'll have to see if I can find out more...

This was from March 18th....
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20080319/NEWS/803...1002/NEWS&source=RSS

I think this one is more recent...
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080423/NEWS/804230350/1002/NEWS

Here is an important part they talk about:
"Despite the possibility that the district will have money to pay for the nurses next year, more than two dozen of them have or will soon receive letters notifying them their positions are not guaranteed when school resumes in August.

The district also plans to notify teachers this week who will not be offered a contract for the next school year. Budget concerns are not a factor in those decisions, according to district spokeswoman Jackie Johnson."

I don't think I would feel comfortable with out a school nurse on hand. I think the schools have a lot of staff on hand and there is bound to be some that could be cut rather than a class or a nurse. I have seen many kids at my sons school that are really ill or on constant meds and they need that one on one if and emergency arouses or even to make sure meds and allergies are watched closely. A busy office staff isn't going to give these kids the full attention that is needed. I can see it now..staff answering phones, talking to parents and oh by the way a child just missed their insulin shot or what ever meds they need like clock work. A school nurse is not something that should be cut!! My son just had a reaction to a daytrana patch and out of 4 adults in this class no one knew what to do it was the NURSE who realized an allergy and quickly diagnosed the problem removed his patch and in a few moments he was okay.. By the way he had no idea who he was where he was or even who I was..now that is a scary situation with no NURSE!!!

I agree that having a nurse on hand is a top priority for me. And I agree with you, Mama C. Nurses should not be replaced by people who have not been medically trained. I personally know how much training goes into being a nurse. There are situations where you need someone with training; allergies, asthma, and not your everyday situations that a simple band-aid would fix. I think taking nurses out of our school is a bad move. Some one will pay for it. And unfortunately, that someone happens to be our children.

I mean, if it means that our children will be medically taken care of, take the computers out of the classroom. Cut those items before you take the nurses away...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Suzy Richardson,

Someone just told me that the nurses being cut are not RNs, but CNAs. Does anyone know anything about that? I don't know how right the information is. I thought that the school nurses had to be RNs.

A lady that I know is a school nurse. She is a LPN not a RN, but more than a CNA. I think that they have to be at least a LPN.

Hey guys. Below is an email that Cynthia Chestnut sent out. Seems like there was some mis-information circulating.

Dear Ms. Harris and Friends;

I have received numerous emails regarding this issue. And I am concerned
that the public has been given misinformation. In order to clarify the
point I have included below the actual motions of the April 15, 2008
Special Meeting on CHOICES .

“This is the motion that was voted on (the final version of the motion).
The votes were 3-1, 4-0, and 4-0. Commissioner DeLaney was absent that
day.

Chairman Long called the vote for the first part of the motion made by
Commissioner Chestnut: Expand the scope of oral health services to include
denture therapy and expand the scope of medical services to include medical
procedures and services delivered in an ambulatory (outpatient) location by
directing the County Attorney to prepare an ordinance with the scope of
services and request a review and recommendations from the CHOICES advisory
board. The motion carried 3-1, with Commissioner Pinkoson voting 'Nay'.

Chairman Long called the vote for the second part of the motion made by
Commissioner Chestnut: Prepare health care contracts that reflect an
appropriate terminology coding system. The motion carried 4-0.

As you can see at no time did the Alachua County Commission including
myself cast a negative vote regarding the funding of school nurses, the
issue was not before us. As you are aware school nurses are jointly funded
by the Alachua County School Board and the Alachua County Health
Department.
On April 15, 2008 no official representative or school board member
requested that CHOICES funds be used to fund school nurses.

Let me be perfectly clear at no time did I cast “a dissenting vote”
regarding funding of school nurses. The only dissenting vote of the day on
matters relating to CHOICES funds was cast by Commissioner Pinkoson in
regards to the funding of dentures for CHOICES recipients.

You have a remarkable network of concerned citizens, please feel free to
share my email to help dispel this misinformation.

Best Regards,

Cynthia Moore Chestnut