Week of September 27, 2009
The
district has established a link on its homepage (www.rsd17.org)
where you may read current information regarding the H1N1
virus.
TALKING POINTS ABOUT
H1N1
(Prepared by Linda Kauffman, Nursing
Supervisor, September 2009)
H1N1 is a viral illness
that will impact our schools over the next several months. The
fact is that it is already in our communities. At this time,
in this state, it is at the mild level. This means our focus
should be on promoting prevention and keeping sick children and
staff members at home until they have been fever free without the
aid of medication for 24 hours.
The primary symptoms of
H1N1 are a fever above 100 degrees or more with a cough or
sore throat. If a child or staff member has this
combination of symptoms they need to stay home until he/she is
symptom free for 24 hours without the aid of fever reducing
medication such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or Ibuprofen
(Motrin/Advil).
This is a respiratory illness that is
passed from person to person through airborne droplet
particles. This virus does not live on environmental surfaces
for more than 7 hours so routine cleaning measures is all that is
needed. Special wipes to clean desks are not necessary.
Occasional washing of desks with soap and water would be
sufficient. It is much better to spend our energy reinforcing
hand washing and covering our coughs.
One challenge we
will face is that doctors are no longer seeing and testing patients
with flu like symptoms. This is not the normal time of year
for the flu so if someone has flu like symptoms they are assumed to
have the H1N1 virus. It really doesn't matter because our
prevention and exclusion guidelines are good practices to follow for
any illness.
We as a district are working to keep our
families up to date with the most current information. A
letter was sent home the week of September 14, 2009, outlining our
team approach. The letter outlined important actions that
families can take to help stay well during the flu season. We
also sent home a flu symptom check list for families which can
provide guidance about when to keep sick children home. There
is a link on the district's main web page for H1H1 and this
information can be found there along with a link to the CDC
website.
School nurses will be closely monitoring
illnesses of children. The thermometer will be the standard of
care. If a child is sent home from school with a fever, the
parent will be reminded that the guideline of "fever free for 24
hours without the aid of fever reducing medication" will be
enforced. Nurses will send home those students who are
dismissed from school with a fever above 100 yet return to school
the very next day. (This guideline helps to keep those
students who may still be "shedding the virus" out of our schools
until they are no longer contagious.)
School nurses
will also begin to monitor the illnesses of staff members.
Again, we are looking for trends of flu like symptoms and not how
sick time is being utilized. Staff should be encouraged to
report flu like illness to their building nurses. The same
exclusion rule will apply to staff. They need to be fever free
for 24 hours without the aid of medication before they can return to
work.
Hand sanitizer and tissues will be available in
all classrooms.
Nurses will continue to reinforce hand
washing and proper respiratory etiquette-covering all coughs and
coughing into the elbow versus hands.
Teachers will be
good roles models by practicing good hand hygiene and covering
coughs and sneezes. They will remind students about these
healthy practices. They will also keep an eye out for sick
students and send them to the health office for further
evaluation.
Employees who are well but have an ill
family member at home can go to work as usual.
The current CDC
recommendation for pregnant teachers and staff member is: "Pregnant
women working in school settings (e.g. teachers, day care workers)
should follow the same guidance as non-pregnant school workers and
the general public." If they have any concerns they need to
discuss them with their physician.
We are committed to staying up to date with the most
current information provided by the CDC and the State Department of
Public Health and will pass on additional information if and when it
becomes available.
The Project Graduation Fundraising Committee will
continue with the recycling fundraiser so please look for the green
bins in all of RSD 17 schools and consider donating used cell
phones, ink jet cartridges, digital cameras, etc. Any
questions, feel free to contact Kathy Strom, 345-3398 or
KSSTROM@aol.com. Updates will be added to the Project
Graduation link on the district website. Thank You.
Please visit the District Calendar located on the
district's homepage (www.rsd17.org) to see when the various
activities and meetings are scheduled.
Thank
you for your continued patience as we implemented additional
adjustments to the transportation routes for this school
year.
A reminder that the district utilizes
the Honeywell Instant Alert system to communicate with
parents during times of emergency or to deliver messages of high
importance. Please be sure that you are registered with
Honeywell (link available at www.rsd17.org) and have indicated how
you wish to have messages received. If you have questions
regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact the Principal of
any one of our schools for
assistance.
If you wish to have
an announcement included in any Weekly Message, please forward the
text to Pamela Hensel, Administrative Assistant to the
Superintendent of Schools at
henselp44@rsd17.org.
If you have any
suggestions regarding the Weekly Message, please contact Gary S.
Mala, Superintendent of Schools at
gmala@rsd17.org.
Enjoy your week and thank
you for your continued support.
Gary
Gary
S. Mala
Superintendent of Schools
Regional School District
17
(860) 345-4534
http://www.rsd17.org
"Believing is
Achieving"
