Healthy Tidbits from Nurse Kay

• There has been cases of sore throats, fevers, vomiting, and diarrhea reported.
• Respiratory infections (Flu and Covid) are prevalent in the community right now. This includes coughs, fevers, fatigue, runny noses and sore throats. There is an increase in respiratory infections becoming pneumonia in the entire SMSD community. If your child has a lingering cough, fatigue and fever, it is recommended to take them to a doctor for evaluation.
• For student privacy, I cannot notify about specific illnesses in classrooms or grade levels, but can give this general overview.

This is always linked at the bottom of my newsletter, but here is a quick reminder.

Illness while at school
If a student becomes ill at school, they must come to the nurse. A parent/guardian must be contacted by nurse before students can leave the building. It is important to keep phone numbers updated so you may be reached in the event of an emergency.

To protect your student and prevent the spread of disease, please keep your student home when any of the following conditions are present:

• Temperature of 100 degrees or greater
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Severe sore throat or pain with swallowing
• Severe headache
• Severe cough
• Undiagnosed rash or skin lesions or sores that are weeping or draining
• Any suspected or doctor-diagnosed contagious disease

Students may return to school when they have been free from fever (without medication), vomiting, or diarrhea for 24 hours.

The new respiratory illness guidelines for Covid, RSV, Flu, and other general respiratory illnesses is as follows:

• Both must be true to return to school/work:
• Symptoms are getting better and no fever for 24 hours without aid of medication.
• Upon return to normal activities, take additional precautions over the next 5 days.

If in doubt about sending your child to school, contact the school nurse or your child's doctor.

JCDHE press release about TB situation HERE.

Check out American Heart Association website for all things heart related.

There is always a shortage of blood in the KC area. Please consider and donate if you can.

https://www.savealifenow.org/

You can see when your child visits my office for any reason on Skyward! This ensures I can spend more time with your student and phone calls home are saved for more significant issues. Please follow this link to see how or click on the images below for an easy visual. You can also see screening results, health conditions, and vaccinations. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions!

We need water every day to stay healthy and at our best. Please send your child with a water bottle every day to school and wash it in the dishwasher regularly to keep it clean. Students should ONLY have water in their water bottles as well. No juice, soda, or other beverages.

If a student doesn't drink enough water, they can have issues in school such as stomach aches, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and toileting, among others (link).

Health Partnership Clinic partners with SMSD and has a clinic at Shawnee Mission West High School. HPC offers medical, behavioral, and dental health services. Click here for more information. They accept all students regardless of insurance.

Additionally, there are a number of other places that offer free or sliding-scale healthcare for all:

- Mercy and Truth

- Vibrant Health KC (formerly Turner House)

- Johnson County Health Department

Vaccine information here: https://www.jocogov.org/department/health/immunizations

Supplies that the nurse's office can use.

• Wintergreen or Peppermint lifesavers
• Children's chewable acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
• Nurse's Amazon wish list for BA. Click here.
  

We have a small clothing closet at Broken Arrow. This is used for students in need of clothes due to accidents or just in need. I keep some in the nurse's office and then Ms. Rogers has a resource room downstairs. As you are going through your child's outgrown clothing, Broken Arrow will gladly take gently used clean clothing.

Children clothing needs are:

• pants and shorts (all sizes). leggings/sweat pants/athletic pants preferred over jeans (but will also take jeans)
• t-shirts (all sizes)
• Shoes (all sizes, closed toe preferred)

Anything that Broken Arrow can't use (or surplus) will be given to other elementary schools or the SMAC PTA clothing closet.

I am happy to be back for another year as a Trailblazer. This is my 5th year as a school nurse and my 13th year total as a nurse. I worked in Pediatric Oncology before starting here.

My loves at home are my husband Ben, daughter Alaina, and my dog Lily.

I love hanging out with my little family. I also enjoy exploring KC, crafting, movies, photography, and Husker/Chiefs football. Christmas is my all-time favorite holiday.

I am excited for another great school year and getting into the classrooms this year.

Broken Arrow School Nurse

Email: kaydickey@smsd.org
Website: https://brokenarrow.smsd.org/
Location: 5901 Alden Street, Shawnee, KS, USA
Phone: 913-993-2302