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HEALTH NOTE!!!
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Asthma Health Care & Authorization for Medication FLU  SEASON
Healthy Classrooms

Tick Season

Nutrition

Medication Authorization Forms

HELPING OUR CHILDREN DEAL WITH WAR

Stress Management for Teachers


MINIMUM IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENTS FOR
   ENTRY INTO SCHOOL AND DAY CARE

Upon entry or transfer into a child care or school setting, documentary proof shall be provided of adequate immunization with the prescribed number of doses of vaccine indicated below, as appropriate for the child's age:

Diphtheria, Tetanus, & Pertussis (DTaP or DTP) - A minimum of 3 doses. A child must have at least one dose of DTaP or DTP vaccine after the fourth birthday. If the child has received six doses of DTaP or DTP before the fourth birthday, additional doses are contraindicated. DT (Diphtheria, Tetanus) vaccine is required for children who are medically exempt from the pertussis containing vaccine (DTaP or DTP). Adult Td is required for children 7 years of age and older who do not meet the minimum requirements for tetanus and diphtheria.

Polio Vaccine - A minimum of 3 doses of polio vaccine. If a child has had only 3 doses of polio vaccine, one dose must have been administered after the fourth birthday. However, a child who has received four doses of polio vaccine before the fourth birthday is adequately immunized and does not need a dose after the fourth birthday.

Haemophilus Influenzae Type b (Hib) Vaccine - This vaccine is required ONLY for children up to 30 months of age. A primary series consists of either 2 or 3 doses (depending on the manufacturer) followed by a booster dose at age 12-15 months. However, the child's current age and not the number of prior doses received govern the number of doses required. Unvaccinated children between the ages of 15 and 30 months are only required to have one dose of vaccine.

Hepatitis B Vaccine - A complete series of 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine is required for all children born on and after January 1, 1994.  However, the FDA has approved a 2-dose schedule ONLY for adolescents 11-15 years of age AND ONLY when the Merck Brand (RECOMBIVAX HB) Adult Formulation Hepatitis B Vaccine is used. The 2 RECOMBIVAX HB Adult doses must be separated by a minimum of 4 months.   If the 3-dose hepatitis B vaccine schedule is used, there should be at least 4 months spacing between the 1st and 3rd doses.

NOTE: Effective July 1, 2001, all children who have not received a complete series of hepatitis B vaccine will be required to receive such immunization prior to entering the 6th grade.

Measles, Mumps, & Rubella (MMR) Vaccine - A minimum of 2 measles, 1 mumps, and 1 rubella (Most children receive 2 doses of each because the vaccine usually administered is the combination vaccine - MMR). First dose must be administered at age 12 months (365 days) or older. If first dose is administered before 12 months of age the dose does not count and must be repeated. Second dose of measles vaccine does not have to be administered until age 4-6 years (usually at entry to kindergarten) but can be administered at any time after the minimum interval between dose 1 and dose 2. The minimum interval is 4 weeks (28 days).

Varicella (Chickenpox) Vaccine - All susceptible children born on and after January 1, 1997, shall be required to have a dose of chickenpox vaccine not earlier than the age of 12 months (365 days).

For further information, please consult The State Board of Health's Regulations for the Immunization of School Children call the Division of Immunization at 1-800-568-1929

Brought to you by the Virginia Dept. of Health   Revised 08/14/02



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Ten Things Teachers Can Do to
Create Healthy Classrooms   top of page
 
Gerri Harvey, RN, MEd
1. Reinforce and make time for healthy practices: covering sneezes, hand washing with soap.Contrary to popular belief, most cold germs are passed on hands, not by sneezing.
 
2. Encourage kids to go outside for recess. The outdoor air, especially in the winter, is more humid, and much fresher than the air indoors, which tends to be drying to the mucous membranes , increasing the incidences of nosebleeds, impetigo, chapped lips, ear infections, and upper respiratory infections. Heated indoor air is germ-laden and dusty. Although some asthmatics have attacks from air that is too cold, usually below 20 degrees, children with colds benefit from the humidity of outdoor air.
 
3. Find alternatives to having kids stay in for recess to make up unfinished work. Kids need the change, exercise, and sunshine, especially in the winter, when outdoor time is so limited anyway. Unproductive, restless or unmotivated children probably need it the most.
 
4. Create opportunities to drink water. Don't think of trips to the water fountain as time-consuming side trips. Most kids drink only the few ounces of fluid that comes with lunch through the entire day. Too little fluids contribute to poor hydration. Poor hydration results in dry mucous membranes (see above), constipation (the cause of most belly aches in school), headaches (the reason for most visits to the school nurse), fevers, bladder infections, and dry itchy skin.
 
5. Empower kids by encouraging self-responsibility for maintaining health and comfort by giving positive reinforcement for healthy food choices in the snack or lunch, for appropriate dress, for self-care. Don't foster the idea that health and comfort only come from medicine, a nurse "fixing" it, or others taking care of everything for them. You can do this by: having kids wash their own minor scrapes, hang nails and paper cuts in the classroom, and applying band aides themselves; having kids apply pressure to minor nosebleeds right in class; offering drinks, rest, time out, a change of activity etc. for vague complaints of not feeling good. In this way, you respond to the real need without providing pay offs for being sick. Often, a trip to the nurse is a payoff in that itprovides a diversion, an out when the child doesn't want to do the class work, and this reinforces that being sick or hurt is a way to deal with frustration. Choose not to send kids to the nurse to borrow sweaters, coats, sneakers, boots etc., when these needs arise out of poor choices made by the child. While nurses are happy to give these items to children who do not own them, or who have had a bathroom accident, loaning dry clothes to kids who have rolled in the snow, or who left the needed item home, or in the classroom , encourages continued irresponsibility. Find some natural consequences that reinforce remembering instead. Point out the pay-offs for making good choices, and don't provide pay-offs for poor ones.
 
6. Think about the messages you are sending to children when you send them to the nurse for minor discomforts associated with normal life events such as loose teeth, choices in clothing, old scrapes or bruises that are obviously well-tended and healing, stuffy noses, invisible itchy spots.
 
7. Consider hunger or needing to use the bathroom when a child complains of a belly ache, especially if it is late morning or early afternoon. Ask the child to try eating a snack or using the bathroom before sending him to the nurse with a sick message. These are probably the first things she will ask, and many belly ache visits can be attributed to one of the two.
 
8. Let the child name or describe the problem. Well-meaning teachers often tell children that they look sick, and children buy into the idea because the compassion that accompanies it provides a psychological hug. As an example, recently a child was sitting in the health office waiting for his mother to arrive with pants because he had torn his, and the nurse didn't have any in his size. The child was embarrassed and upset, and had been crying a few minutes before. A staff member stopped in for something else, and asked if he was waiting for his mother. He nodded yes, and she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I can see you're sick, you look just awful, you go home and get better. " The child began to cry when his mother arrived with the pants and told her he was sick.
 
9. Express the expectation that your class will be healthy . Like the expectation of success, children believe you, and will fulfill your expectations. One second grade teacher I know tells her children that for some reason she always has the healthiest class in the school each year. She tells them that it must be the beautiful view from the classroom window, the "feel better" place that she has behind the piano, complete with mats and pillows, or the excellent health practices like hand washing that her students always remember to do because she provides special soap and hand lotion. All of these things help, no doubt, but the most powerful preventative is this teacher's willingness togive psychological and physical hugs, and her expressed expectation of wellness.
 
10. Convey the message that nurses and other health care workers are resources to help us stay well. If every teacher in your school did just the nine things listed above, there would be fewer sick children in your school and fewer needless visits to the nurse. With all her newly- free time, your school nurse could spend more time on prevention activities such as screening , health education, counseling and safety. As a final word, consider this quote of William Glasser, from his book, The Quality School:
 
What we learn at an early age and never forget is that people who care for us personally or legally can be controlled by our paining or sicking. ...It is interesting that while almost none of us has been able to learn how to feel good directly, almost all of us can make a direct choice to feel bad, to suffer misery, pain, and even sickness...The choice to be sick or to be miserable can be learned: there are plenty of role models around...the choice to be sick or to hurt is the student's way of dealing with the threat of failure...it is the students' attempt to defend themselves against a need-frustrating coercive system. If it works, as it often does, students learn a self-destructive way to deal with frustration that may last all of their lives. ...Unfortunately, suffering or disability, for those who choose it , has a big payoff: its only serious flaw is that it is miserably uncomfortable. This is the price, however, that millions of people, young and old, are willing to pay.
________________________________________
Copyrighted 2002 Gerri Harvey
from

 

FOODPLAY's 12 Ways To Raise Healthy Kids!
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12 Winning Ways To Get Kids Off The Junk Food Track!
by Nutritionist Barbara Storper, M.S., R.D.

1. Make "Read It Before You Eat It!" your family's snack time slogan. So that you're not surprised by what's inside - teach kids to read the Ingredient and Nutrition Facts Labels to find out what's really in the food they're choosing.

2. Make healthy foods fun, kid-friendly, and easy to grab. Kids love the bright colors and crunch of raw veggies, and calling them neat names make them more fun such as carrot "coins", green pepper "pinwheels", and veggie "pick-up-sticks" served with dips of salad dressing, peanut butter, balsamic vinegar, or yogurt. Assign a special "snacks" shelf in the fridge or cupboard stocked with a variety of healthy snacks kids get to choose from. Serve healthy foods when your kids are hungriest --after school or before dinner.

3. Don't leave home empty-handed! Stock your bag and car with your own 'convenience food' - plastic bags of baby carrots, fruit, cheese sticks, popcorn, peanut butter and crackers, trail mix, pretzels and containers of applesauce, puddings, and yogurt to avoid the convenience store's overpriced sugary and fatty temptations.

4. Make family time, healthy time! Visit a farmers' market, apple orchard, pick-your-own berry patch, or community farm to show kids where real food comes from, then, let kids taste fresh fruits and vegetables picked right off the vine. Involve kids in the preparation of healthy meals when you have more time or grow a vegetable garden together. Kids will eat what they've had a hand in creating. And, enjoy being active together. Take walks, hikes, or bike rides, play catch in the yard or dance around to swing tunes while you do the dishes - even an after-dinner stroll around the block is a great step towards family fitness.

5. Make breakfast the most important meal of the day. Anything nutritious is better than nothing for breakfast, so don't leave home without it, or make sure your child gets it at school. And, anything goes! Reheated leftovers like pizza, Chinese food, a chicken leg and rice and beans are favorite breakfasts for kids. Or, try preparing breakfast the night before - smoothies, hard-boiled eggs, fruit mixed with yogurt, or good ol' PB&J sandwiches - all pack the nutrition that will fuel them until lunch.

6. Have it your kids' way...sort of. Promote choice whenever you can, as long as they're healthy choices (e.g., say "Which would you like for snack, an orange or an apple?" instead of "What would you like for snack?"). Rather than formal dinners, set up food bars such as a salad, taco, or potato bars. It cuts down on prep time for you and kids have more fun making their own.

7. Get real with serving sizes! Especially at fast food stops, restaurants, convenience stores and movie theaters. Avoid the temptation of value meals or Big Gulp sodas that may seem like a savings, but are just adding calories from sugar and fat. When eating out, share meals or save what you don't eat for next day's lunch.

8. Return soda to its rightful place as a once-in-a-while treat! The average child drinks over 500 cans of soda a year! At ten teaspoons of sugar a can, kids are getting more than 62 pounds of sugar from soda alone...at a cost per child of about $375 each year. Aside from the 160 empty calories and caffeine, a central nervous stimulant, soda gets in the way of more nutritious drinks like milk. Soda also leaches calcium from bones - an alarming fact since osteoporosis is reaching epidemic proportions. Convert your soda drinkers with the "soak in the coke experiment" - place an old tooth, chicken bone, or iron nail in cola overnight and have kids check out the damage 24 hours later. Make up your own "soda naturale" - half seltzer, half fruit juice - and have kids start a "can the soda" piggy bank with all the money they'll save!

9. Turn Off The TV! Today's average child watches three to four hours of TV a day! Studies show that the more TV a child watches, the more overweight s/he becomes - a deadly combo of not being active, constant exposure to junkfood ads, mindless TV snacking on those same junkfoods, and a slower metabolic rate than even sitting still! Keep an "(Always Wanted) To-Do List" with everything you and your kids would love to do if only you had the time. Then, turn off the TV and go at it. Sewing, cooking, sports, putting photos in books...turn spare time into creative quality time.

10. Try to have simple and nutritious family meals several times a week and make them a peaceful, comfortable time for eating and talking, saving arguments, criticisms, TV watching, and phone calls for other times.

11. Try not to use food as a reward or punishment. Giving sweets as a reward or consolation often confuses a child's understanding of food and love, and may encourage kids to seek out food when unhappy, bored, or lonely. Try to provide a listening ear, hugs, or healthy attention instead.

12. Help kids to feel good about themselves, whatever their size and shape and encourage them to realize that every body is different, and different is a good thing. Less than 2% of girls could have anywhere near the shape or weight of a fashion model without resorting to dangerous practices of dieting, excessive exercise or drug use. Compliment kids for their efforts, values, achievements and character, rather than overemphasizing their looks.

Nutritionist Barbara Storper, M.S., R.D., is a leader in the field of children's nutrition and the founder of FOODPLAY Productions, a national award-winning nutrition and health education organization which presents touring health theater shows to schools, video kits, and creative resources to promote children's health. For more nutrition and health tips, information about bringing FOODPLAY's touring health theater show to your school, or other health resources for kids and teens, call 1.800.FOODPLAY, or email info@foodplay.com

Barbara Storper, M.S., R.D., Director
FOODPLAY Productions
221 Pine Street
Florence, MA 01062
(413) 585-8400
(413) 585-8484 (fax)
www.foodplay.com

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