EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Health: Birth to 5
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New program expands its role on campus Do the words “school nurse” conjure up memories of a comforting bandage for a scraped knee, an ice pack for a bumped head, or a handy “get of out class” hall pass? Well, hold on to your icepacks, because there’s a whole new breed of school nurses in Orange County, and they are at a school district near you! In September 2004, the Children and Families Commission of Orange County launched the School Nurse Expansion Project, despite a critical shortage of registered nurses in California. Thirty new school nurses, or more accurately “school readiness nurses,” are hard at work at elementary school sites across Orange County. Their vision is a lot bigger than taking temperatures and tending to upset stomachs: It’s ensuring that your preschool-age child is healthy and ready to learn. If you thought that was the parents’ job, you’re right. It’s also true that appointments to the pediatrician or health clinic are sometimes difficult to schedule and transportation can be hard to arrange. Now parents have a valuable resource available to help. Working in local school districts, the school readiness nurse helps parents prepare their children for kindergarten. They play a pivotal role in improving children’s health and school success, and this goes beyond preschool, elementary school or even high school. In fact, the first goal of school readiness nurses is to promote lifelong health for young children and their families. One way they do this is by increasing the proportion of children ages birth to 5 years who will receive primary healthcare services and immunizations at the appropriate intervals. Another goal is to prevent, decrease, identify and treat health problems and illnesses in young children. Here are some of the services school readiness nurses provide: • Physical and dental health screenings • Developmental screenings for preschool-age children • Vision, hearing, height and weight screenings • Nutrition education and physical activity opportunities through parent and preschool children classes • Outreach and promotion efforts in the community, such as presentations at school health fairs, PTA meetings and private preschools • Referral of children with identified health problems and follow-up to assure treatment. Whether or not you take advantage of your local school readiness nurse, as part of the Orange County community, you will benefit from their work. That’s because school readiness nurses get results: reduced long-term healthcare costs from increased parental knowledge and involvement in raising healthy children; help for families that need it to secure low-cost or no-cost health and/or dental insurance; and most importantly, healthier children who do better in school and in life because they started out healthy and ready to learn! m To find the school readiness nurse nearest you, or for more information on the School Readiness Nurse Program, contact your local Orange County elementary school district and ask for the school readiness nurse or contact Barbara Bohlig, RN, consultant to the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, at bjbllc@cox.net. HEALTH The Children and Families Commission of Orange County was formed in September 1999 to allocate Orange County’s funds from the Proposition 10 ballot initiative, which added a 50-cent sales tax on tobacco products sold in the state. The commission’s mission statement focuses on three platforms: • Bridges for Newborns • Family Resources • School Readiness The commission sponsors and supports programs to meet the greatest needs of the youngest children of Orange County. The following is part of our initiative to bring you the commission’s “Help Me Grow” program. |
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