Health Room & Attendance

Health Room Reminders

To:  Parents of Students in the Whitefish Bay School District

Now that school is well underway, we would like to remind you of important information pertinent to the safety and level of wellness of all students. The information addresses the following issues: student illness, communication between home and school, sleep-deprivation, nutrition, and Internet resources related to health issues.

STUDENT ILLNESS:

It is not easy to decide whether to send a child to school when he/she complains of illness. This information sheet has helpful information: "Is He Sick? Should I Send Him to School?" from the State Medical Society of Wisconsin Auxiliary "Guidelines and Recommendations for some of the Common Communicable Diseases" from the Shorewood Health Department.

Main points to remember are these:

• FEVER: A child may have a fever in the evening, then be without a fever the next morning. If sent to school, the fever may return later in the school day. The Whitefish Bay School District's policy states to exclude a child from school with a temperature of 100.4 or greater. Please keep your child home until fever-free for 24 hours without the help of fever-reducing medication.

• VOMIT:  The 24 hour rule also pertains to students who vomit due to illness.

• COMMUNICABLE DISEASES: Students are excluded from school with communicable diseases including: Pertussis, Hand Foot and Mouth.  This is not an all-inclusive list.  Contact the health room with questions.

• PERSISTENT COUGH, COUGHING SPELLS, VOMITING, EXHAUSTION, DIARRHEA: These are all reasons to keep a child home. If these signs and symptoms (S&S) continue, medical evaluation is appropriate.

• SORE THROAT: Irritation of the throat can be caused by persistent coughing, post-nasal drainage (drainage down the back of the throat from sinus and nasal passages due to a cold, allergies, or sinus infections), or throat infections such as Streptococcus bacteria (Strept Throat). Some children are more susceptible to Strept infections and develop a beefy-red throat, fever, swollen glands in the neck, nausea, and headache. Others may have a Strept infection and show mild or no S&S. Strept infections can lead to other infections such as Rheumatic Fever that can seriously damage major organs. Medical evaluation is important to rule out Strept infections.

• ANTIBIOTIC MEDICATION THERAPY: Medication Antibiotic Therapy is sometimes prescribed by the child's physician to treat bacterial infections. If antibiotics are prescribed the child must be on them for 24 hours before returning to school.

• INFORM YOUR SCHOOL: Please notify the health room of the following: your child's specific health condition or allergy, any communicable disease, such as chicken pox, or any immunizations received by your child.

• EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION IN THE HEALTH ROOM: Please keep emergency contact information up-to-date in your school's Health Room. You may have a new work telephone number, home address and/or telephone number, or cell phone number. Please be diligent about having at least two emergency contact persons listed on the school Emergency Card to call if a parent cannot be located in an emergency.

• SLEEP MORE = BETTER STUDENT: (Reuters Health, Boston, October 23, 2002 See: Reuters.com) Studies show that children and adolescents in the United States do not get adequate sleep resulting in possible long-term health effects and decreased school performance. Dr. Carl E. Hunt, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, found that children and adults who do not get adequate sleep (they do not necessarily have a sleep disorder) can have impaired school performance, memory, learning, behavior, mood, and health effects related to blood pressure. "Evidence shows that elementary-age children need at least 9 hours of sleep per night to be well rested and many of them aren't getting it." Dr. Hunt reports.

• NUTRITION: Students who come to the Health Room complaining of headache, dizziness, and/or stomachache often report that they have not eaten breakfast before coming to school. This may contribute to their symptoms. To best function academically, emotionally, and physically, it is best to eat nutritious foods about every four to five hours. Students are often rushed in the morning, but if they could have a glass of juice, milk, and a more complex carbohydrate such as peanut butter and whole grain toast, fortified cereal, granola bar, etc, they would probably feel and function better at school. Some elementary schools have a morning snack brought to school by the students. If that is the practice, please send a nutritious snack on a regular basis. The old adage still applies: "breakfast is the most important meal of the day."