Health Office Spring Newsletter

The nurses would like to remind parents/guardians to have this discussion with their students everyday. Some suggestions we encourage students to make sure they have in their bag the night before school are:

• WATER BOTTLE
• Snack
• Weather gear (e.g. hat and gloves, jacket, closed toe shoes, etc.)
• If applicable and consented by the school nurse to self carry, rescue medication such as epinephrine and/or inhaler

Making sure your student has the above essentials will help them be their best self while at school!

If your student will be staying for ANY after-school activity (i.e. sports, clubs, etc.) and has a rescue medication prescribed (i.e. epinephrine, inhaler, seizure rescue medication, etc.), please check-in with the school nurse as soon as possible to make a plan for after-school activities, since typically the school nurse is not in the building after dismissal. For most of our RAMS and HHS students, we do encourage those students to carry their own epinephrine and/or inhalers, however consent to self-administer/self-carry MUST be on file with the school nurse each academic year. We also strongly encourage parents/guardians to reach out to the responsible adult who will be supervising their student in that after-school activity to ensure that adult is aware of the medical diagnosis and any applicable rescue medications. Thank you!

Reminder for a parent/guardian to ask themselves before their student participates in an after-school activity:

• Does your student have any prescribed RESCUE medication that may need to be administered, such as epinephrine, inhaler, seizure medication, diabetic management medication, or other life-threatening condition medication?

• Does your student have any important medical conditions that staff should be aware of? Please provide ALL information, even if this information has already been provided to the school.

Gentle reminders:

• Cover sneezes and coughs with tissues (if there are no tissues, use your elbow 💪).
• Remember to wash hands frequently, especially when coming inside from outdoor play.
• If your student takes allergy medication, please make sure to provide it to your student before they come to school.
• Please make sure your student has a water bottle for school and encourage extra hydration to alleviate symptoms.

As a reminder, the school nurses cannot apply sunscreen and/or bug spray without the medication and a medication order from your student's provider. Please refer to the Medication Administration guidance on our district website if application during the school hours is necessary: https://www.holliston.k12.ma.us/district-departments/health-office

With the warm weather approaching, we wanted to remind families to be vigilant about insect bites. Please review the below guidance

• https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/tick-bites
  
• https://globalhealth.childrenshospital.org/conditions/bee-stings

This year, we had our very first HHS Health Office Intern - Emma Devine! She did an AMAZING job creating this Health Office bulletin board. She provided her fellow students with some self-treatment strategies for dealing with a headache - information we can all use! THANK YOU, Emma, for helping your HPS community stay healthy!

Sam Placentino School 235 Woodland Street 🌺 Phone (508) 893-0856 Fax (508) 429-0691

Fred W. Miller School 235 Woodland Street 🌺 Phone (508) 429-6812 Fax (508) 429-0699

Robert Adams Middle School 323 Woodland Street 🌺 Phone (508) 893-0687 Fax (508) 429-0690

High School 370 Hollis Street 🌺 Phone (508) 429-0682 Fax (508) 893-6053