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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

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Schools, students and swine flu

Brainerd school nurses offer helpful advice for parents, children to contain illlness

By JODIE TWEED

Staff Writer

With the threat of widespread swine flu outbreaks looming over the upcoming school year, many parents may be wondering if they should pack anti-bacterial hand sanitizers and face masks along with crayons and pencils in their children's backpacks for their first day of school.

Government officials have given local school districts more authority on whether to close schools this school year if large numbers of students contract the H1N1 virus. This is a change from last spring when school officials nationwide, based on advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at first shut down schools for two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu. The CDC then later recommended that parents keep sick kids home for at least a week and schools didn't need to close because the virus was milder than feared.

Stay home! If your child has a fever of 100 degrees, school policy dictates the student must remain out of school.

In the Brainerd School District, district nurses Mary Lastovich and Aimee Jambor are in frequent contact with Crow Wing County Public Health Department, the Minnesota Department of Health and the CDC and planned to participate in three teleconferences in late August/early September with state health officials about the H1N1 virus. Lastovich said the state Department of Health is expected to give them guidelines about what to do if the district has any H1N1 cases. These guidelines will be made available to each school and the district's H1N1 policy, based on those recommendations, will be posted on the district's Web site.

Lastovich and Jambor said the district is stepping up its efforts on illness prevention this year because of the H1N1 virus and believe it's important that parents, students and school staff work together on this issue. Parents and students may notice some changes in the district's sick policies and a greater emphasis on handwashing this year.

The nurses typically go into the elementary classrooms to teach students about handwashing throughout the school year but plan to conduct these classroom lessons this fall. They also plan to send information home with students, asking parents to have their children wash their hands when they get home.

In the past school staff may have shown leniency when a student has a fever greater than 100 degrees. Lastovich said this year if a child has a fever over 100 degrees he or she will have to go home and remain out of school until the fever has been gone for at least 24 hours. This does not mean a child may return to school if his or her fever has been reduced solely because of medications.

Jambor said parents should talk to their children about ways to prevent illness, such as making sure they don't share water bottles with their friends. She said other ways to prevent illness is to make sure your student gets plenty of sleep, eats breakfast every day and makes sure they wash their hands if they cough or sneeze into their hands. They advise covering your mouth with your arm.

Federal officials have said that students are on the priority list for the first doses of the swine flu vaccine, but because of time needed for testing and manufacturing, inoculations can't begin until school has been in session for more than a month; the government is aiming for Oct. 15. Many questions remain, including whether people will need one shot or two for protection. That is in addition to the regular winter flu vaccine that is also recommended for children.

States and school districts should be preparing for the possibility of mass vaccinations, federal officials have said.

Superintendent Steve Razidlo participated in a teleconference last week between Minnesota superintendents and state health officials about the H1N1 virus. He said if there are mass immunization clinics this fall, the district will be participating in those efforts, likely hosting these clinics at the schools as they partner with local, state and federal health officials on combating the virus.

"We were absolutely briefed the vaccine is being prepared and that great efforts are being undertaken at the federal level to make sure there is enough vaccine nationwide for a coordinated response to this," said Razidlo.

Razidlo said school officials will be inviting members of the local health care community and schools to come together and talk about what this means for this community as early as this week.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is another respiratory illness that Jambor and Lastovich are concerned about. Last year about 30 students in the Brainerd district contracted pertussis.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.

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