The Arkansas Public School Health Services Advisory Committee is asking parents statewide to complete a survey on the health services provided by their child’s public school.
Act 414 sponsored by Representative Andy Mayberry and Senator Joyce Elliott required the state to form a task force to look at student health and health services in Arkansas public schools. This committee includes 19 members from education and health services backgrounds. They will study school health services and needs and inform the General Assembly so that it can determine the best school health policies and practices for Arkansas school children. One of the goals is to ensure adequate and appropriate health care workers on site to attend to students.
The committee began working in September and would like to have public input. A survey is available at www.aradvocates.org, as well as http://www.arsba.org/, for Arkansas parents of school-aged children. The committee hopes to get parent feedback to learn how they feel about the health care of their children during school hours. The survey will be available online from Jan. 6- Jan. 31. Parents are requested to only complete one survey for their family. The committee encourages the parent of multiple students to complete the survey referring to the child with the most medical needs.
“As a parent of a child with a disability, I understand the importance of a full-time school nurse on campus at my daughter’s school” said Julie Mayberry, vice-chair of the Arkansas Public School Health Services Advisory Committee. “Our school nurse provides the assurance I need as a parent that my daughter’s health care needs are being met while she is away from me. Our school nurse has also picked up on medical issues that she brought to my attention. Her role is valuable to the education and health of my daughter.”
Anna Strong, director of health policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, says education and health are closely linked. “This survey will help Arkansas determine next steps in assuring access to needed health care services while children are at school,” she said. “We know that meeting health care needs where children are – in the schools – means children are healthy, safe and ready to learn while parents are at work.”
As president of the Arkansas School Nurses Association, Valerie Beshears says there is an increasing need for professional school nurses. As a member of the task force, she points to national studies that show there are increasing numbers of children with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and life-threatening allergies. There is also a growing number of children who require specialized medical procedures at school such as bladder catheterization and tracheostomy care (http://www.nasn.org/portals/0/about/2012_The_Case_for_School_Nursing.pdf). Districts are required under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to accommodate all of these children.
Besides caring for children with special needs, the National Association of School Nurses says that school nurses help all students to be healthy and ready to learn. Several studies show that having a full-time school nurse helps decrease absenteeism since school nurses are able to tend to needs of ill or injured children and return students to class when appropriate.
In the 2012-13 school year, Arkansas school nurses were asked to voluntarily complete a survey to gather statistical information statewide. The task force is revising the current school nurse survey, and hopes that parents will complete the parent survey so that health and health care can be comprehensively assessed in order to develop recommendations that promote best policies and practices for Arkansas school children.
Information gathered through the 2012-13 school nurse survey includes:
(Information gathered from 413 Arkansas School Nurses from 149 school districts representing 229,742 students K-12)
*397,125 at-school minor injuries of students and staff requiring first-aid were reported.
*21,244 major injuries requiring EMS or immediate care by a health care provider and loss of at least half a school day were reported.
*48,851 students in these school districts reported having a chronic illness and/or disability. This represents 21 percent of the student population. The top three conditions were: ADD/ADHD (17,016), Asthma (13,669) and life threatening allergies (3,102).
*48,931 students received medication while at school.
*4,740 students required specialized care at school (tube feedings, suctioning, stoma care, blood glucose testing, respiratory care, bladder and bowel programs, intravenous medications, tracheostomy care, dialysis, etc.)
Other information from 661 Arkansas school nurses, gathered through the same 2012-13 school nurse survey 65 individual nurses self-reported that their health rooms have no sink with water, 15 have no heat, 14 have no air conditioning, 121 do not have a bathroom, 220 do not have a double-locked cabinet to store medications, 83 do not have a refrigerator to store medication, 30 do not have a Sharps container to dispose of needles, and 22 had no telephone.
“This committee hopes to bring these issues to the forefront so we can best address the needs of our children and ensure an adequate and safe public education,” said Mayberry. “I encourage each parent to take few minutes to help us with this study.”
Members of the committee include:
Valerie Bailey, Attorney, Arkansas Department of Education Darin Beckwith, Fountain Lake School District
Valerie Beshears, RN, President Arkansas School Nurses Association Petra Bland, Arkansas Department of Education
Charlotte Grisham, parent Deborah Jones, Arkansas State Board of Nursing
Michelle Justus, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement Elizabeth Kindall, OUR Educational Cooperative
Kathy Launder, Arkansas Educators Association Patricia Martin, Arkansas Department of Education
Julie Mayberry, parent, Vice-Chair Mike Mertens, Ark. Association of Educational Administrators
Patricia Scott, Arkansas Department of Health, Family Health Branch Paula Smith, Arkansas Department of Education-CHAIR
Michelle Smith, ADH Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Anna Strong, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Jim Warnock, Principal Alma Intermediate School Connie Whitfield, Arkansas School Boards Association
