Health News
- Ten-county Lake Cumberland District Health Department Is The Latest To Ask Schools To Foot More Of The Bill For School Nurses
The Lake Cumberland District Health Department told school districts in its 10-county area in December that it would no longer be able to pay for nurses for each school, setting off negotiations with the districts. Somerset Independent Schools Supt....
- Legislature Passes Bill Requiring Schools To Have Trained Employees To Give Insulin And Epilepsy Medication To Students
A bill to require schools to have an employee on duty to administer insulin and epilepsy medication to students is on its way to Gov. Steve Beshear for final action. House Bill 98, received final passage Thursday in the House, 96-2, after initial House...
- School Nurses Are An Unfunded Mandate For Schools, Which Are Picking Up More Of Their Cost As Health Department Budgets Shrink
Marion County nurse Renee Schooling helps Levi Hardin, a Marion County first grader with diabetes, check his blood sugar. (Lebanon Enterprise Photo by Stevie Lowery)Kentucky school nurses are stretched thin across the districts they serve and...
- School Nurses In Fayette Cut As Public-health Dollars Shrink
Takirah Sleet, 7, and school nurse Michelle Marra assess her lunch to manage Takirah's diabetes. (H-L photo by Pablo Alcala)As public health and education dollars shrink, school nurses are caught in the middle. The Lexington-Fayette...
- Diabetic Youth Have Medical Costs Of More Than $9,000 A Year
Children who have diabetes incur medical costs of more than $9,000 a year, a number that is six times greater than for children who don't have the disease, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. Most of the expenses...
Health News
Bills to allow school personnel to administer insulin are result of lack of funding to pay for nurses in schools
Reflecting a shortage of school nurses and Kentucky's higher-than-average prevalence of diabetes, a bill in the new legislative session would allow school personnel to administer insulin and otherwise treat diabetes symptoms if they undergo specified training.
?Schools don?t have the ability to pay for nurses,? Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, told Alli Collis of The Jessamine Journal. ?With this bill, children?s health care won?t be at risk.?
In schools that do not have a nurse, parents must be called from work to the school to administer insulin to their children, or the children are bused across the county to a school that has a nurse, Damron told Collis. His legislation, House Bill 98, would allow school personnel who undergo training to assist students with the treatment of diabetes symptoms.
A similar measure, Senate Bill 30, has been introduced by Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. Current law requires every school to have an employee on duty who has been trained and delegated responsibility by a doctor or nurse to administer specified medicines. Damron's bill would require an additional employee to be available to administer or assist with self-administration of insulin.
Denton's bill would do likewise, but would require at least two such employees, in addition to a school nurse, who have met the training requirements and been delegated responsibility. Denton would also require at least one employee to be available at all school-sponsored activities.
Damron told Collis that 30 other states have already put similar laws in place and it is heavily supported by the American Diabetes Association.
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in school-aged children. According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, about 215,000 young people in the US under age 20 had diabetes in 2010. This represents 0.26 percent of all people in this age group. Kentucky's adult diabetes rate is above the national average; data on children were not available.
?Schools don?t have the ability to pay for nurses,? Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, told Alli Collis of The Jessamine Journal. ?With this bill, children?s health care won?t be at risk.?
In schools that do not have a nurse, parents must be called from work to the school to administer insulin to their children, or the children are bused across the county to a school that has a nurse, Damron told Collis. His legislation, House Bill 98, would allow school personnel who undergo training to assist students with the treatment of diabetes symptoms.
A similar measure, Senate Bill 30, has been introduced by Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. Current law requires every school to have an employee on duty who has been trained and delegated responsibility by a doctor or nurse to administer specified medicines. Damron's bill would require an additional employee to be available to administer or assist with self-administration of insulin.
Denton's bill would do likewise, but would require at least two such employees, in addition to a school nurse, who have met the training requirements and been delegated responsibility. Denton would also require at least one employee to be available at all school-sponsored activities.
Damron told Collis that 30 other states have already put similar laws in place and it is heavily supported by the American Diabetes Association.
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in school-aged children. According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, about 215,000 young people in the US under age 20 had diabetes in 2010. This represents 0.26 percent of all people in this age group. Kentucky's adult diabetes rate is above the national average; data on children were not available.
- Ten-county Lake Cumberland District Health Department Is The Latest To Ask Schools To Foot More Of The Bill For School Nurses
The Lake Cumberland District Health Department told school districts in its 10-county area in December that it would no longer be able to pay for nurses for each school, setting off negotiations with the districts. Somerset Independent Schools Supt....
- Legislature Passes Bill Requiring Schools To Have Trained Employees To Give Insulin And Epilepsy Medication To Students
A bill to require schools to have an employee on duty to administer insulin and epilepsy medication to students is on its way to Gov. Steve Beshear for final action. House Bill 98, received final passage Thursday in the House, 96-2, after initial House...
- School Nurses Are An Unfunded Mandate For Schools, Which Are Picking Up More Of Their Cost As Health Department Budgets Shrink
Marion County nurse Renee Schooling helps Levi Hardin, a Marion County first grader with diabetes, check his blood sugar. (Lebanon Enterprise Photo by Stevie Lowery)Kentucky school nurses are stretched thin across the districts they serve and...
- School Nurses In Fayette Cut As Public-health Dollars Shrink
Takirah Sleet, 7, and school nurse Michelle Marra assess her lunch to manage Takirah's diabetes. (H-L photo by Pablo Alcala)As public health and education dollars shrink, school nurses are caught in the middle. The Lexington-Fayette...
- Diabetic Youth Have Medical Costs Of More Than $9,000 A Year
Children who have diabetes incur medical costs of more than $9,000 a year, a number that is six times greater than for children who don't have the disease, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. Most of the expenses...