Health Services
All children attending St. Dominic School must have proper immunization as required by state law. The school nurse supervises the health program in the school. Her duties include care of children who become sick or injured while at school, maintaining student health records, and control of communicable diseases.
Our registered nurse, available to us through Auxiliary Service Funds, is on duty in the health room Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. She will provide routine vision and hearing tests, coordinate County Board of Health services in the school (e.g. Scoliosis Screening in Grades 6-8), as well as be on call to provide evaluation and basic first aid in case of emergency. The school is required to follow very strict guidelines regarding students taking medication while at school. Please read the section on Medications before sending medicine to school with your child.
Every child needing to see the school nurse must have a referral note from the teacher before going to the health room. In the event of illness at school, the procedure before sending the student home is:
a. Contact parents to see who is available to come to school for the child.
b. If parents cannot be reached, the directives on the child's Emergency Medical Authorization Form will be followed.
On returning to school after an illness caused by a communicable disease, a student may be required to present a release card from the doctor. On returning to school after any absence, a note of excuse to the teacher is required even though a phone call was made earlier reporting the absence. Any questions can be directed to the health room at ext. 430.
AIDS: All decisions concerning student/employees with AIDS shall be guided by the Archdiocesan Policies regarding persons with AIDS.
ALLERGIES: Parents of students with allergies, particularly serious allergies, are urged to fill out an Allergy Action Plan with the school nurse.
MEDICATIONS: State Law prohibits the administration of any drug (whether prescription or over-the-counter) without the written order of a physician and the permission of the guardian. Before a child will be allowed to take any medicine at school, we must have a form signed by both parent and doctor on file.
Permission forms must be filled out for each child and for each medicine to be administered at school. Directions on the permission form must be followed. Forms are available in the health room and will be sent home on request.
The medicine and the signed form should be brought to school by the parent/guardian. Medicines will be kept in a locked cabinet in the health room. It will be administered by the school nurse, or by a designated staff member.
STUDENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO CARRY ANY MEDICATION ON THEIR PERSON. This is a safety precaution; however, there may be some exceptions to this rule. These exceptions would only be made for potentially life threatening medical conditions and would require parent, physician, and school agreement prior to carrying the medication. Misuse and/or failure to keep medication safe and out of the hands of non authorized persons may result in disciplinary and civil consequences to both the authorized student and his/her parents. If the parent/guardian prefers to administer their child's medication at school, the parent should make arrangements with the school nurse. We recognize that occasionally students must take medicine during the school day, however, most can be taken on a schedule which allows for each dose to be taken at home.
All medicine left in the health room must be taken home at the end of the school year. Letters will be sent home reminding parents. The school prefers that parents pick-up the unused medicine, but will allow children to do so only with a written request from a parent. All medication not claimed will be destroyed the final day of the school year.
Parents must write a note to the teacher asking permission for their child to use cough drops. The child may not share cough drops with other students. Questions can be directed to the nurse at ext. 430.