![page background](https://cdn.smore.com/u/backgrounds/custom_bg-638a19b05899769e900179b0-48e33ce93686.jpg)
ESC REGION 11 STETHOSCOPE
The Ears of the School Nurse
December 2023
Happy Holidays, Region 11 Nurses!
As we enter into the holiday season, I want to take a moment and express my sincere gratitude for the vital role each of you plays in your school communities.
Your dedication to the well-being of students is truly admirable. We recognize the pivotal role you play in ensuring the health and safety of all students and want to provide you with different resources surrounding health and safety this month.
You are not just an essential part of your school's healthcare team; you are also a cherished member of the region's professional community. Your compassion, skills, and tireless efforts make an immeasurable impact on the well-being of your students.
Thank you for everything you do to keep your school and community healthy, safe, and thriving.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Shelby
"December, being the last month of the year, cannot help but make us think of what is to come".
— Fennel Hudson
December School Nurse Huddle: Thursday December 14, 2023 • 3:00-4:00 P.M.
Join us for the virtual School Nurse Huddle, a dynamic and engaging event designed exclusively for school nurses and health services personnel. This year, thanks to the Nursing Grant, the event is free, making it an invaluable opportunity to enhance your school nurse practice without any financial burden.
During the event, you will have the chance to connect with fellow school nurses from across the region, creating a vibrant professional learning community. We have curated a lineup of esteemed speakers who will share their expertise and insights, providing you with fresh ideas and innovative approaches to improve your school nurse practice.
The School Nurse Huddle offers a diverse range of sessions covering various topics relevant to your role. Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge in student health assessments, emergency response protocols, mental health support, or any other area of interest, we've got you covered. Our speakers are passionate about empowering school nurses and ensuring the well-being of students.
In addition to the enlightening sessions, we prioritize fostering connections and networking opportunities among participants. Engage in open discussions, share best practices, and exchange valuable insights with your peers. This event serves as a platform for collaboration, allowing you to seek advice, ask questions, and receive support from experienced school nurses who understand the unique challenges and triumphs of your profession.
Don't miss this chance to elevate your school nurse practice and expand your professional network. Register now and join us in creating a stronger, more informed, and connected community of school health professionals.
Upcoming ESC Region 11 Professional Development
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
AHA Heart Saver K-12 CPR/ AED/ First Aid
Monday, December 11, 2023
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Youth Mental Health First Aid (Virtual)
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Trauma-Informed Care for Educators (Virtual)
Monday, February 5- 6, 2024
Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals (DITEP) 2-day course
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals (DITEP) REFRESHER 1 day course
Online Self-Paced Course
McKinney-Vento (Students Experiencing Homelessness) Overview Training
Other Professional Development Sources
Cook Children's Professional Development
2023 Diabetes Workshop for School Nurses (Virtual) Recorded Webcast
- 2024 School Nurse Symposium - Thursday, June 13, 2024 (Registration will open in spring 2024)
Children's Health Professional Development
Texas Children's Hospital Professional Development: All Classes $5 and 1 Contact Hour
January
1/30/2024 • 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of GI Issues in the School Setting
1/30/2024 • 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of First Aid, Triage & Emergencies in the School Setting
February
2/27/2024 • 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of Infectious Diseases in the School Setting
2/27/2024 • 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of Allergies & Anaphylaxis in the School Setting
March
3/26/2024 • 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of ADHD in the School Setting
3/26/2024 • 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of Eye Injuries & Illnesses in the School Setting
April
4/30/2024 • 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of Nutrition in the School Setting
4/30/2024 • 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Nursing Management of Anxiety & Panic Attacks in the School Setting
School nurses serve a vital role in supporting the health and well-being of thousands of children each day in the unique and complex school setting. In this webinar, Attorneys Andrew Tatgenhorst and Amber King lead a discussion on hot topics and trending legal issues specific to school nurses, including their role in supporting and serving students with disabilities and the emerging issues of medical marijuana and opioid antagonist medications.
Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do Webinar
America’s adolescents today are sadder, more anxious, and lonelier than previous generations. It’s a long-term trend that has reached crisis proportions, according to mental health professionals. Schools have stepped up in response, adding mental health services and classes designed to foster mental well-being. But they’ve been limited by inconsistent funding and a scarcity of mental health professionals. Meanwhile, teachers, are stressed and struggling with low morale. This virtual forum is based on recent reporting on these challenges and how schools have responded.
Date: Thursday, December 7, 2023
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
School Emergency Preparedness
Code ANA
Code Ana is a non-profit that creates education to make the world a safer place for any child. Through education on school safety, medical emergency response plan creation, anaphylaxis, epinephrine, and food allergy, we can prepare any school, childcare center, and other organization to be prepared for the unexpected. Though staff and leaders are mainly based in Louisiana, Code Ana is able to offer all of this education online through their online learning portal and in-person through our train-the-trainer program.
Project Adam
Project ADAM affiliate sites strive to assist schools and communities in establishing a practiced plan to respond to sudden cardiac arrest. They provide the foundation for schools to develop and sustain their program, including planning templates, a reference manual, and one-on-one consultation. Contact your local affiliate for support.
A Project ADAM Heart Safe School has successfully implemented a quality sudden cardiac arrest program of awareness, training, and effective emergency response to promote a safe environment for students, visitors, and staff, as outlined within the Heart Safe School Checklist.
Texas School Safety Center Survey
The Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) would appreciate five to 10 minutes of your time to gather information about your school safety training, resource, and service needs and preferences.
The TxSSC offers training, resources, and technical assistance to K-12 schools, open-enrollment charter schools, and community colleges. Your input as an educational practitioner helps them to serve you better with resources that reflect the current school safety landscape. The information you provide is confidential.
Access the survey here:
https://txstate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3h2jp0lEZw0uaMK
You can exit and return to the survey at any point. Your progress is automatically saved.
The survey is open through December 10, 2023.
If you have any questions or need technical assistance, contact txssc-research@txstate.edu.
Please feel free to share this survey link with other educational practitioners in your school, district, or personal network.
Opioid Antagonist Requirements
An open-enrollment charter school or private school may choose to adopt a policy.
Opioid Prevention Resources
#OnePillKills
Texas Health and Human Services Campaign to Fight the Fentanyl Crisis
Recovery Resource Concil
Each year, thousands of individuals and families turn to Recovery Resource Council for help. All it takes is a moment to change a life for the better.
The mission of the Recovery Resource Council is to promote wellness and recovery from disorders relating to alcohol, substance use, trauma, and mental health. Building on a core value of Making Meaningful Change, the Recovery Resource Council has been serving North Texas since 1946 with an established pathway to substance abuse screening and mental and behavioral health treatment services for low-income, uninsured, or under-insured youth and adults.
Their target population includes veterans and their family members, chronic homeless adults with co-occurring disorders, at-risk youth struggling with the impact of adverse childhood experiences, and adults struggling with addictions, trauma, and mental health disorders.
Students are faced with making choices every day. With EVERFI’s digital health and wellness curriculum, kids are taught that the choices they make and the habits they form now become the foundation for the lives they lead as adults.
EVERFI works with partners to secure funding so that their digital health and wellness resources, training, and support are completely free to teachers, districts, and families.
The health and wellness curriculum offers students a comprehensive education on various aspects of physical and mental well-being. Here are some key components typically included in health and wellness curriculum:
- Physical education
- Nutrition education
- Mental health
- Emotional well-being
- Substance abuse prevention
- Personal safety and injury prevention
- Health literacy and decision-making
- Healthy relationships and communication
- Disease prevention and personal hygiene
The health and wellness curriculum aims to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to make informed decisions about their physical and mental well-being. It promotes the development of healthy habits, responsible behavior, and positive attitudes toward personal health, ultimately supporting students in leading balanced and fulfilling lives.
Song for Charlie
Song for Charlie is a national family-run nonprofit charity dedicated to raising awareness about ‘fentapills’ — fake pills made of fentanyl.
They partner with experts, educators, parents, and other influencers to reach the most vulnerable group: young people between the ages of 13-24.
Our program highlights the emerging dangers of self-medication and casual drug use in the fentanyl era and encourages healthier strategies for coping with stress.
Natural High
Natural High works to fight youth drug and alcohol abuse through schools, families, and our community. Their mission is helped in part by the organizations and students around the country using Natural High’s curriculum.
Drews27Chains
In 2020, a nonprofit 501C3 Organization, Drews27Chains, was establish in hopes that no other family would experience such a great loss of life secondary to an opioid overdoes.
Drews27Chins provides free training (donations accepted) on recognition of opioid overdoses and proper administration of naloxone, an opioid antagonist that may counter the effects of opioids. If available, Drews27Chains will also supply naloxone at no cost. Trainings are schedule by contacting them by email or through Facebook messenger. The education and naloxone supplied have 60 people. Founder Callie finds comfort knowing Drew's life and death played a part in those 60 lives.
The hope for Drews27Chains is that we continue to honor Drew by reaching every community, every city, every school, every public place, and every person with the message of hope and recovery.
"His death became my life." — Callie
Texas Against Fentanyl: The Tucker Project
TXAF.org is actively engaged in developing a fentanyl curriculum in partnership with a leading national textbook publisher.
By aligning a fentanyl curriculum to state health education standards, teachers can more easily integrate it into their lesson plans and ensure that it meets the relevant learning objectives and criteria for effective health education.
General Resources
211 Texas United Way Helpline
Amy Callaway is a point of contact for the 211 Texas United Way Helpline serving Tarrant County and surrounding areas. The helpline offers assistance with housing and utilities, child care, health and mental care, job training, and much more.
Please reach out to her if you know someone who could use assistance.
Phone: 682-340-2587
TSNO Region 11 School Nurse Association Board Interest Survey
It has been some time since TSNO Region 11 has had an active School Nurse Association. We would like to try and revive it!
Region 11 SNA is separate from ESC Region 11, and they need school nurses in our region to volunteer to serve on a board.
If you are interested and would like more information, fill out the form below. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Hollie Smith, RN
Email: hsmith.tsno@gmail.com
DSHS Flu Prevention Resources
As flu season starts to ramp up, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) urges the community to get vaccinated against the flu. There are a variety of resources to promote the flu vaccine.
Order Flu Print Materials through the DSHS Immunization Publication Order Form. Materials are always free (unless expedited shipping is requested).
Download the Flu Social Media Toolkit and create a tailored flu messaging campaign.The toolkit includes:
- social media images
- guide to using the images
- post copy
They encourage you to use these materials to educate Texans about the importance of the flu vaccine. Together, we can make a significant difference in mitigating the impact of the flu season.
NASN — VSP Eyes of Hope
VSP Eyes of Hope is a gift certificate program that operates through NASN to provide eye care for school-age children in need. This program provides school nurses with gift certificates for a no-cost eye exam and, if prescribed, new glasses that NASN members can distribute to students who qualify. The gift certificates can be redeemed at a local VSP network doctor's office. Full instructions are printed on each gift certificate.
Vaping Prevention and Education
Hearing, Vision, and Spinal Certification
Unfortunately, Hearing, Vision, and Spinal certification courses are no longer held at the ESC. Please reach out to Sheron Fountain from DSHS to inquire about upcoming classes.
Join a Professional Organization
Join NASN
National Association of School Nurses membership includes automatic membership to the Texas School Nurses Organization (TSNO) — two memberships in one!
Become A Nationally Certified School Nurse!
"Why certify? Board certification in school nursing is a formal recognition of advanced knowledge, competence, and a personal commitment to excellence in the specialty practice of school nursing on behalf of the better health and education of school-age children."
This certification validates your knowledge and skills and elevates the school nursing profession nationally.
Learn more about it at the NBCSN website.
Get in Touch: Contact Us Today!
Shelby Lampley, B.S.N., RN — Nurse Manager
Email: slampley@esc1.net
Website: www.esc11.net/nurse
Location: 1451 South Cherry Lane, White Settlement, TX, USA
Phone: 817-740-7656
Join the ListServ
Let your school nurse colleagues know about our newsletter and how to sign up!
- Visit www.esc11.net/nurse
- Click on the purple envelope to the right of the screen.
- Fill out your information and select SCHOOL NURSE from the drop-down button.
- Reply to the confirmation email and become a part of the ESC 11 school nurse listserv for access to the newsletter and other events and information from our department!