Meet the Nurse

A Letter from the Nurse

Dear Parents,

Welcome to McCoy Elementary.

My name is Leah Jones.  I will be starting my fourth year as a School Nurse at McCoy I am excited to share my knowledge and passion for healthcare with the students and staff of McCoy Elementary.  There are a lot of things today’s school nurses do at school besides giving our Band-Aids and dispensing medication. We do First Aid, Medication Administration, Vision and Hearing Screening, Immunization Compliance, Dental Health Program, Growth and Development class for the fifth grade students, Medical Procedures, Medical Referrals, etc.  I have a few guidelines that I would like to share with you. Please use this as your reference when you need it:

1. Please inform the school if you have a new phone number at your home or work. It is very crucial for us to have correct information in the case of your child’s illness of injury.
2. Please keep your child at home if he/she has a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, undiagnosed skin rash, etc. If a student has a fever, he/she has to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.
3. Please notify the school if your child comes down with a communicable disease such as chicken pox, head lice, scabies, infectious hepatitis, etc. Parents often fail to report head lice to the school. Peciculosis (head lice infestation) is a communicable disease that needs to be reported. McCoy Elementary has a “Nit Free” policy regarding head lice. This means that a student may not return to school until after treatment and all nits have been removed.
4. Please notify the school if your child gets immunized; it is very important to update your child’s immunization record. As you probably know, Varicella vaccine has been added as a requirement. Varicella vaccine is the chicken pox vaccine. If your child had has the chicken pox illness, he/she does not have to receive the vaccine, but we need the approximate date of when the illness occurred.
5. When your child is referred to the clinic by his/her teacher in case of illness or injury, we will notify you when the signs and symptoms require medical attention or in the case fever or possible communicable disease.

Medication Policy

1. When medication is brought to the clinic for your child, a permission form has to be signed by a parent or guardian. The permission form is available at the clinic or below. Please send a note to your child’s teacher that he/she will be taking medication at the clinic. It is requested that medication be brought to the clinic by the parent.
2. All medication must be in its original container and be properly labeled.
3. The pharmacy label must state the student’s name, medication, dosage, doctor’s name and date prescription was filled.
4. The prescription is to be current within the last 12 calendar months.
5. Nonprescription drugs should have the student’s name affixed to the original bottle.
6. Medication that comes with a physician’s order can be kept in the clinic for the entire school year as long as the prescription is current.
7. Over the counter medication cannot be given for more than 5 school days without written permission from a physician. Also, over the counter medication cannot be given on an as needed basis. That means that we have to have a specific time to give the medication on the permission slip. The written permission slip must also have the age appropriate dose of the medication that is written on the bottle or box. If the child is 11 and the bottle says not to give to 12 and under, we cannot give it (Unless we have a doctor’s order).

Your cooperation is very important to maintain a healthful school environment. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have about your child’s health. Refer to links on the bottom of this page for information on district health policies, immunizations, medical forms and education.

http://www.headlice.org/

http://www.nourishinteractive.com/

https://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf

https://www.aap.org/en-us/Pages/Default.aspx

http://www.cdc.gov/

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/

http://www.metrocareservices.org/Home.aspx

http://ccdcounseling.com/

Leah Jones BSN, RN
972-968-2301

Forms may be faxed to 972-968-2310