Health & Nursing

When in doubt, keep them out!

The following guidelines are provided too help you determine when your child should stay home:

• Chicken Pox is a communicable disease that presents as a rash of small clear blisters that open, crust & then form scabs.  Your child can return to school when all blisters have formed scabs, usually 7 days after all pox have appeared.

• Common Cold/Flu frequently will present with debilitating symptoms like nasal discharge, cough, sneezing, bad headache nausea, vomiting and feeling tired.  If your child has a fever over 100 degrees, bad cough, difficulty breathing or becomes dehydrating he or she will need to be seen by your doctor as soon as possible.

• Conjunctivitis (Pinkeye) bacterial type with the following symptoms:  red sclera and conjunctiva, yellow crusted eyelids especially when waking up in the morning, burning and excessive itching and rubbing of the eyes.  Treatment will include eye drops prescribed by your doctor.  Can return to school 24 hours after treatment has been started.

• Coxsackievirus is a communicable disease usually presents with painful sores on the hands, feet and in the mouth.  Fever, nausea and vomiting can also occur.  Your child may return to school after medical clearance from your doctor.

• Diarrhea with multiple episodes of loose stools; may have a fever and abdominal cramping.  Your child may return to school when free of diarrhea and without fever for 24 hours.

• Fever over 100 degrees will need to be excluded from school.  Your child may return to school when fever has been gone for 24 hours.

• Mononucleosis, Epstiein Bar, Chronic Fatigue, Hepatitis are communicable disease includes many different symptoms similar to the flu.   Will require medical clearance including activity order before your child can return to school.

• Pediculosis (Head Lice) causes severe itching, rash and enlarged lymph nodes on the head and neck areas.  Head lice are very contagious and will require treatment with a product specifically made to kill lice.  Consult your school nurse, pharmacist or doctor to assist you with the best way to get rid of lice, prevent spread t and prevent re infestation.

• Sore Throat with pain and fever needs to be looked at by your doctor.  Your child may return to school when he/she is fever free for 24 hours.

• Strep Throat and Scarlet fever are very contagious bacterial infection.  Symptoms include red enlarged tonsils, with or without pus like exudates, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting.  Your child may return to school after 24-48 hours of antibiotic treatment and fever free.

Please be sure to notify the school if your child is absent.

Guidelines set by the State Department of Education

It is school policy not to allow children to have medications in the classroom.  If medications need to be administered during school time, the medication will be kept in the Health Office and dispensed by the school nurse at the designated time(s).  In addition:

1. The parent/guardian must provide a written request for the administration of medication.

2. We must also have an original written order from your doctor for any medications that must be taken at school, including over the counter medications.  This order must include:

• Diagnosis
• Name of Medication
• Dosage and time it is to be given
• Is child to receive medication on half days?
• May the medication be withheld for field trips?
• If medication is an inhaler or EpiPen, may the child carry it and self-administer?

Call the nurse to obtain a form for EpiPen use in school.

3. All medication must be in the original pharmacy container properly labeled for the student.  Ask your pharmacist for the medication to be divided into two bottles completely labeled:  one for home and one for school.  Do not send medication in baggies, tissues, envelopes, etc., as it is against the law to dispense unlabeled medications.

4. Students are not allowed to carry medications on the bus or into school.  An adult must drop off the medication in the Main Office or in the Health Office during school hours.

5. Over the counter drugs must also be prescribed by your health care provider.

1. The N.J. Department of Education now mandates that the Asthma Treatment Plan form be on file at school for all students who wish to use an inhaler at school regardless of diagnosis (i.e. asthma, reactive airway, etc.)
    

2. This form is available from the school nurse, or via download on the district nursing page.

Prevention and  the spread of communicable diseases in school and in the community requires cooperation and partnership between home and school.  The first step in the control of communicable diseases is the knowledge of  when and where these diseases occur.  For a detailed list of diseases that are reportable to the school please refer to district policy.  Please notify the school when your child is absent.

Some Tick Talk :

*New Jersey has one of the highest rates of Lyme Disease (tick-borne illnesses).

*All ticks can transmit Lyme Disease (not necessarily limited to deer ticks).

*Increased incidence of Lyme Disease is partially attributed to the population explosion in the rural areas.

*Keep wood and brush away from your house.  Stone walls attract small rodents which can also carry ticks.  Bird feeders also increase the incidence of ticks.

*Avoid pets on furniture and sleeping with kids.  Ticks can travel from your furry animal onto the skin of your family.

*Avoid tick infested areas and sitting directly on the ground.  Use EPA approved repellents.

*Frequent tick checks are probably your best protection from tick-borne illnesses.

Removing ticks before they adhere to the skin, prevents the transmission of infection.

*Remember to protect (repellent) and check pets too!

*Teach children to seek adult help for tick removal.

*Squeezing the body of the tick can actually increase the chance of transmitting infectious material into the person who is bit by the tick.

*Improper removal can increase the chances of infectious transmission of tick fluids and thus developing Lyme Disease and related tick-borne illnesses.

Never put substances on the tick such as soap or other substances.

*Use a fine point tweezer and grasp tick mouth parts (place of attachment—as close to the skin as possible).  Remove the tick with a steady pull away from the skin.   Use a steady pressure and gently pull the tick straight out.  Never squeeze, twist, or yank  the body of a tick.  Never put substances or fluids on the tick.

*If you save the tick for testing, place it in a sealed plastic bag with a moistened (water) cotton ball.  If a tick is positive, a course of antibiotics is indicated---see the doctor.

*Some Lyme literate specialists feel that testing ticks may not always be 100% accurate.

*Disinfect tweezers.

*Wash hands thoroughly.

*If discarding tick, wrap in toilet tissue and flush into toilet.

*Don't touch tick with bare hands.

*Clean area of the tick bite with an antiseptic and apply antibiotic ointment.

*Contact your doctor.

*Mark your calendar on the day of the tick removal.

*Be alert that some reports and researchers state that less than 40% of people develop a rash (bulls-eye) after a tick bite.

*Many rashes that do develop after exposure to infectious tick bites may not present as the "classical bulls-eye" rash.  You may see a solid red rash – possibly 3" diameter or larger, and may be smaller, too.    Consult your medical professional as needed.

*Some people with dark skin may have a "bruise-like" appearance when developing a rash.

*New research supports 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy for Lyme Disease.  Other tick- borne illnesses may also be transmitted from one tick bite.  They include ehrlichiosis, bartonella, and babesiosis.    Ask your doctor about these other diseases.  They should be assessed and treated promptly.

*Taking advantage of the "window of opportunity" for treatment of Lyme Disease can mean the difference between wellness and illness and the avoidance of an unknown course of chronic illness.

*It may be advisable to treat tick bites when there is:

a large rash or bulls-eye rashan engorged tick upon removaltick bite in an endemic area with high incidence of lyme and tick-borne illnesshistory of immune-suppressed state of health

If fever or flu-like illness develops within 4 weeks after a known tick bite, consider treatment for Lyme Disease!  Alert your healthcare provider....many do NOT get the rash.  Flu-like symptoms include fatigue, malaise, achy, fever, headache, swollen glands, achy/stiff/swollen joints, and chills.

Other tick-borne diseases are Babesia, Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichia, and Bartonella.  Ask your doctor to check for these other infections that may be transmitted along with Lyme.

Log onto www.lymediseaseassociation.org for more information and other websites.