As students in Palm Beach County public schools prepare to begin the new school year, more than 200 School Nurses stand ready to deliver quality health care every hour of every school day.

 

Now in its 13th year, the Health Care District’s School Health program provides a full-time registered nurse in 164 public schools in Palm Beach County’s School District, the 11th largest school district in the nation. School Nurses serve 170,000 students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade, treating everything from injuries and illness to chronic diseases.

 

To prepare for the 2011-2012 school year, School Nurses gathered at Palm Beach Gardens High School’s auditorium on August 17th for a day of training and collaboration. This “Nurse Education Day” provides an opportunity for the nurses to receive information on key health topics that could affect students this year. Because School Nurses work independently in school health clinics, the day also serves as a rare opportunity for all the nurses to be together.

 

The Health Care District’s School Health Program, in partnership with the Palm Beach County Health Department and The School District of Palm Beach County, has evolved to serve as a model for other communities around the nation, maintaining a high nurse-per-student ratio to give parents peace of mind about their child’s health and well-being during the school day. This is especially important to parents of students with a chronic illness. Over 12 percent of Palm Beach County students are monitored for a chronic medical condition, including asthma, allergies, diabetes, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders.

 

During the last school year, School Nurses logged 690,000 visits to their health rooms, some seeing an average of 60 students per day. Their required prior experience in a hospital emergency room, in pediatrics, or community health nursing allows School Nurses to address a wide variety of health issues. For many students, the School Nurse may be the only health care provider they see all year.