Our Nurse

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Our Nurse


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Recommendations During Flu Season

Below are recommendations to help reduce the spread of flu in schools.

 
Encourage students, parents, and staff to get a yearly flu vaccine.

  •  Teach students, parents, and staff that the single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each flu season. See Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine.
  • Seasonal flu vaccination is recommended for everyone 6 months of age and older unless they have a specific contraindication to flu vaccine. See Vaccination: Who Should Do It, Who Should Not, and Who Should Take Precautions. The seasonal flu vaccine protects against three or four influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. The vaccine viruses are reviewed each year and changed as needed based on international surveillance and scientists’ estimations about which viruses will predominate during the upcoming season.
  • A number of different manufacturers produce trivalent (three component) influenza vaccines for the U.S. market. Some seasonal flu vaccines will be formulated to protect against four flu viruses (quadrivalent flu vaccines). See Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine and How Flu Vaccines Are Made for more information.
  • Flu vaccines have a very good safety record. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Americans have received seasonal flu vaccines. The most common side effects following flu vaccinations are mild, such as soreness, redness, tenderness, or swelling where the shot was given. See and .
  • Flu vaccination efforts should begin by the end of October, if possible. However, as long as flu viruses are circulating, vaccination should continue to be offered throughout the flu season, even in January or later.
  • See Preventing Seasonal Flu with Vaccination.


Encourage students, parents, and staff to take everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of germs.

  • Encourage students and staff to stay home when sick.
  • Teach students, parents, and staff the importance of staying home when sick until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever* or signs of a fever (chills, feeling very warm, flushed appearance, or sweating) without the use of fever-reducing medicine.
  •  Encourage respiratory etiquette among students and staff through education and the provision of supplies. See Cover Your Cough.
  • Teach students and staff to cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or their bent arm. If they use a tissue, they should put the used tissue in a trash can and wash their hands.
  • Provide adequate supplies within easy reach, including tissues and no-touch trash cans.
  • ncourage hand hygiene among students and staff through education, scheduled time for handwashing, and the provision of supplies. See Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives.
  • Teach students and staff to wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, dry hands with a paper towel, and use the paper towel to turn off the faucet. If soap and water are not available and hands are not visibly dirty, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol may be used.
  • Include handwashing time in student schedules.
  • Provide adequate supplies, including clean and functional handwashing stations, soap, paper towels, and alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Encourage students and staff to keep their hands away from their nose, mouth, and eyes.
  • Encourage routine surface cleaning through education, policy, and the provision of supplies. See How To Clean and Disinfect Schools To Help Slow the Spread of Flu.
  • Routinely clean surfaces and objects that are touched often, such as desks, countertops, doorknobs, computer keyboards, hands-on learning items, faucet handles, and phones. Empty trash cans as needed.
  • Use general cleaning products that you normally use. Always follow product label directions. Additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is not recommended.
  • Provide adequate supplies, such as general EPA-registered cleaning products, gloves, disinfecting wipes, and no-touch trash cans.
  • Match your cleaning activities to the types of germs you want to remove or kill.
  • Flu viruses are relatively fragile, so standard practices, such as cleaning with soap and water, can help remove and kill them.
  • Studies have shown that the flu virus can live and potentially infect a person for only 2 to 8 hours after being deposited on a surface. Therefore, special sanitizing processes beyond routine cleaning, including closing schools to clean every surface in the building, are not necessary or recommended to slow the spread of flu, even during a flu outbreak.
  • Some schools may include other cleaning and disinfecting practices in their standard procedures to address germs that are not removed or killed by soap and water alone.
  • See Good Health Habits for Preventing Seasonal Flu and
    Flyer[1.5 MB, 2 Pages, 8½” x 11”] .


Educate students, parents, and staff on what to do if someone gets sick
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  • Teach students, parents, and staff the signs and symptoms of flu, emergency warning signs, and high risk groups. See lists at the beginning of this document.
  • Those who get flu-like symptoms at school should go home and stay home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medicine. Those who have emergency warning signs should get immediate medical care. See The Flu: What To Do If You Get Sick.
  • Those who get flu-like symptoms and are at high risk of severe flu illness should ask a health care professional if they should be examined. See People at High Risk of Developing Flu–Related Complications.
  • Encourage students, parents, and staff to take antiviral drugs if their health care professional prescribes them. See Treatment – Antiviral Drugs.
  • Antiviral drugs are prescription drugs that can treat the flu. These drugs can reduce the number of days that a person is sick and also may prevent serious flu complications, but not everyone needs to be treated.
  • Antiviral drugs work best when started within the first 2 days of illness, but they also may help reduce the risk of severe illness even if started 2 or more days after onset of illness for persons who are very sick.
  • Although most people will recover from flu without treatment, antiviral drugs are recommended for people with flu who require treatment in the hospital; have a progressive, severe, or complicated illness; or are at high risk of severe flu because of an underlying medical condition or their age.

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Here is a link to the BOE website that has a list of our various forms we use in the clinic. If there is any new information we need to be made aware of, please do not hesitate to contact the school. 
BOE Health Services

Student Information

Peanut-Safety Information

Personal Health & Wellness

Scoliosis Information

Smoking Information

Waivers

Parent & Teacher Information

Breast Cancer Awareness

Communicable Diseases Information

Emergency Response

Health & Wellness

Peanut Allergies Information

Prostate Cancer Awareness

Smoking Information & Cessation