Health News
As public health and education dollars shrink, school nurses are caught in the middle. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is among those scaling back its school-nurse program due to cuts, even as "more students with greater medical needs are appearing in classrooms," reports Mary Meehan for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The cuts and the need present a difficult scenario: "In order to be educated, a student has to be healthy. How do you make that happen?" asked Mary Burch, president of the Kentucky School Nurse Association.
Schools nurses are not mandated in Kentucky, and the way school districts address the issue varies widely. Some districts use a nurse consultant to train school staff. The National Association of School Nurses recommends one school nurse for every 750 students. With 40,000 students, Fayette County falls short of meeting that level of care. The Fayette County school board helps to increase funding to keep nurses in place. About $600,000 would need to be reallocated. (Read more)
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UPDATE, Aug. 11: The school board made up part of the health department's budget cut, allowing it to keep seven nurses, "but not before a lengthy discussion which included talk of salary cuts and new pay scales for nurses," The Interior Journal reports....
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- 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 Start Getting Scarcer, Due To Medicaid Problems
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News Students in many Kentucky counties will find it harder to see a school nurse due to changes in the state Medicaid program and lack of payment from managed-care companies. Takirah Sleet, 7, and school nurse Michelle...
- Many School Districts Need More School Nurses, Report Finds
Many if not most Kentucky public school districts have fewer school nurses than national guidelines call for, a Kentucky Youth Advocates report says. "A Picture of Health: School Health Services in Kentucky" found that "only 38 percent of school...
Health News
School nurses in Fayette cut as public-health dollars shrink
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| Takirah Sleet, 7, and school nurse Michelle Marra assess her lunch to manage Takirah's diabetes. (H-L photo by Pablo Alcala) |
The cuts and the need present a difficult scenario: "In order to be educated, a student has to be healthy. How do you make that happen?" asked Mary Burch, president of the Kentucky School Nurse Association.
Schools nurses are not mandated in Kentucky, and the way school districts address the issue varies widely. Some districts use a nurse consultant to train school staff. The National Association of School Nurses recommends one school nurse for every 750 students. With 40,000 students, Fayette County falls short of meeting that level of care. The Fayette County school board helps to increase funding to keep nurses in place. About $600,000 would need to be reallocated. (Read more)
- Lincoln County Set To Lose Four School Nurses If Alternate Funding Or New Partnerships Are Not Found
UPDATE, Aug. 11: The school board made up part of the health department's budget cut, allowing it to keep seven nurses, "but not before a lengthy discussion which included talk of salary cuts and new pay scales for nurses," The Interior Journal reports....
- 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....
- 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 Start Getting Scarcer, Due To Medicaid Problems
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News Students in many Kentucky counties will find it harder to see a school nurse due to changes in the state Medicaid program and lack of payment from managed-care companies. Takirah Sleet, 7, and school nurse Michelle...
- Many School Districts Need More School Nurses, Report Finds
Many if not most Kentucky public school districts have fewer school nurses than national guidelines call for, a Kentucky Youth Advocates report says. "A Picture of Health: School Health Services in Kentucky" found that "only 38 percent of school...