More than 200 Health Care District of Palm Beach County School Nurses and School Health staff meet Wednesday, August 8th, 2018 at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. There they will prepare for the new school year along with the support of a Certified Diabetes Educator.
"The Health Care District’s School nurses and staff care for more than 170,000 public school students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade," said Darcy J. Davis, Chief Executive Officer of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. "This year one of our School Nurse Specialists is certified as a Diabetes Educator and will support her colleagues, students and their families to help students follow their diabetes management plans.”
The Health Care District’s School Health Program, which staffs registered nurses in health rooms at 166 public schools, has evolved into a model program as Palm Beach County is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country to have such a high nurse-to-student ratio in the public schools. For many students, the School Nurse may be the only medical provider they see all year.
“The Health Care District’s School Nurses handled over 342,000 student visits in their health rooms during the 2017-2018 school year,” said Ginny Keller, RN, MBA, NCSN, Director of the School Health Program. “Our School Health staff provides a critical access point to care during the school day, especially for students with chronic conditions likes asthma and diabetes.”
Donald E. Fennoy II, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools for the School District of Palm Beach County, is scheduled to welcome the team at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The Health Care District’s School Health program partners with the School District of Palm Beach County and the Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County.
WHAT: School Health Education Day
WHERE: William T. Dwyer High School
13601 N. Military Trail
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
WHEN: Wednesday, August 8th, 2018
8:30 am to 10:30 am
Each year the School Health staff meets the week before the start of school to reconnect as a group before they begin working independently at their respective schools under strict protocols of care. Every school day, the nurses are ready to respond to a wide range of health issues, from injuries and illness to chronic diseases like seizures and asthma. They provide nursing care, medically-complex care planning and case management, and communicable disease surveillance. School Health technicians conduct vision and hearing screenings. The School Nurses identify conditions, some of which have been life threatening, that might otherwise go unnoticed and they steer students and their families to treatments. For more information, visit www.hcdpbc.org/schoolhealth
