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4.29.03
School Health Advocacy Day
[View
photos from the event]
[Statement
presented By Neil, Lisa and Harris Wallack]
[Parent
of Child with Asthma, Testifies to the Value of School Nursing]
On April 28th, more than one hundred school nurses, parents, teachers
and advocates for improved school health services rallied at the State
House for School Health Advovacy Day, an event to draw legislators attention
to the issue of school health, the value of school nurses, and the need
for adequate funding to ensure that Massachusetts school children have
access to adequate school health services.
At the
event, MNA President Karen Higgins was among those who spoke, calling
upon the legislature to maintain funding for school health services
and to reverse efforts by the Romney administration to gut school health
funding, which has already resulted in the layoff of 500 school nurses
across the Commonwealth. "School nurses are vital to the health and
safety of our school children, and to ensuring that children are ready
to learn," Higgins said. "School nurses also play a vital role in protecting
our communities and our children in the event of public health emergencies,
such as SARS and bioterrorism."
A number
of legislators, including State Senator Richard Moore, Chair of the
Joint Committee on Health Care, and a long time advocate for school
health services, spoke to the audience and expressed their commitment
to support funding for school health services.
Parents
of children whose lives have been improved by access to sound school
health services and school nurses spoke in support of school health
funding, including Catherine Martin, who has a child with multiple special
health needs that require the careful monitoring and attention of a
school nurse. Neil and Lisa Harris of Newton, along with their seven
year old son Harris, were on hand, and presented a read a letter Harris
had written about living with juvenile diabetes and how much he depends
on school nursing services to deal with his illness. Links to their
testimony can be found on this page.
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