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4.24.03
School Nurses to Hold School Health Advocacy Day at State House
on April 28 (9 – 11:30 a.m.)
Seek
to Maintain Funding for Improved School Health Services for State's
Children
Hundreds
of nurses, teachers and parents expected to flood State House to
protest devastating cuts in school health programs as part of FY
04 Budget
BOSTON,
Mass.—While the health needs of Massachusetts' students
have grown increasingly complex, many thousands of students receive
inadequate, if any, school healthcare. At the same time, recent
cuts in school health funding and deeper cuts planned under state
budget proposals place Massachusetts school children in even greater
jeopardy. To help address this problem, school nurses, parents,
students and health care advocates will converge on the Massachusetts
State House in Nurses Hall on Monday, April 28, 2003 from 9 a.m.
– 11:30 a.m. for a School Health Advocacy Day.
The
event, hosted by the School Nursing Services Collaborative, will
feature a number of speakers including government officials, parents,
school administrators, students and representatives from the healthcare
community who will attempt to educate legislators and demonstrate
strong support for legislative efforts to protect school health
funding from possible budget cuts and increase state resources for
school health and nursing service in more schools across the Commonwealth.
The
School Nursing Collaborative is advocating for legislators to maintain
the level and standard of care needed to service the growing population
of students with mild to severe health needs.
In
1998, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health presented a
report to the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees with a
plan for the much-needed expansion of school health services. In
FY 2000, 2001 and 2002, the legislature responded by increasing
funding for school health services. In 2003, Governor Romney slashed
funding for school health services. Among his cuts was the elimination
of significant funding for the state's highly successful Enhanced
School Health program that funds school nurses in cities and towns
with children lacking access to adequate health care. Today, school
nurses across the state are receiving layoff notices; and school
based clinics, in many communities the only source of health care
for children, are threatened by these cuts as well.
School
nurses provide a valuable social and health care safety net, particularly
in tough economic times as school nurses are a primary source for
poor or uninsured children to have access to health assessment.
Also, in the wake of a worldwide SARS outbreak and growing concerns
over bioterrorism, school nurses provide a readily available resource
for early detection and rapid response in local communities to a
public health emergency.
As
early as 1992, a special commission relative to the practice of
school nursing recognized the unmet needs of Massachusetts students
and concluded, "Children attending schools in the Commonwealth today
are faced not only with the usual and common infectious disease,
they face the threat of other major health problems not always well
understood by teachers, parents and the community. Special needs'
children integrated into classrooms of every town have significant
health and nursing needs, including such things as catheterization,
suctioning and the administration of complex treatments. The administration
of medication and the monitoring of their effects, couple with the
needs of children from dysfunctional families, further complicates
the picture of school health."
According
the Marcia Buckminster, Director of School Health Services for the
Framingham Public Schools, the commission report accurately depicts
the conditions in her schools, as well as schools throughout the
state. "Within the last school year, our nurses have cared for acute,
chronic and emergency health problems such as asthma, attention
deficit disorder, migraine headaches, epilepsy, heart conditions,
diabetes, life threatening allergies, arthritis and hemophilia.
We have had students coming to school requiring colostomy care,
intravenous medications, nasogastric feeding and other procedures."
School
nurses are also required by law to conduct annual postural, hearing
and vision screening tests on all students and monitor compliance
with school immunization regulations. They also provide health education
to students, teaching healthy lifestyles, as well as management
of illnesses.
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Members
of the Massachusetts School Nursing Services Collaborative: American
Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Lung
Association, Asthma & Allergy Foundation, American Cancer Society,
Epilepsy Association of Massachusetts & Rhode Island, Health
Care for All, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Massachusetts School
Nurse Organization, Parents Alliance for Catholic Education, Partners
for a Healthier Community
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