School safety and student mental health were the main topics discussed at the House Select Committee on School Safety meeting at the legislative office building in Raleigh on Monday. The committee, made up of lawmakers, was formed in response to the massacre in Parkland, Florida. Members have been discussing ways to make schools in North […]
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NC is in desperate need of school nurses. Will it foot the $45 million to $79 million bill for more?
There are so few nurses in North Carolina’s public schools that a new state report says it could cost an additional $45 million to $79 million a year to help meet student health needs. There’s one school nurse for every 1,086 students, according to a state legislative staff report, meaning the majority of student medical […]
Stretched Too Thin
Amy Widderich is a woman in near constant motion. Whether it’s walking a queasy child from a classroom, taking a temperature or dispensing hugs and encouragement to anxious kids, Widderich, the nurse at Grove Park Elementary School in Burlington, rarely gets to complete a sentence before she’s interrupted by a child, or a teacher, or […]
Poverty, Health Have an Impact on Learning
Kudos to the News & Record for running articles devoted to the well-being of children, our greatest resource. The recent coverage included an excellent piece describing the League of Women Voters’ forum on poverty and academic achievement. Earlier commentary addressed training that school nurses will need for the growing problem of opioid addiction, an important […]
Guilford budget to include additional school nurses
The News & Record published an article from Kate Elizabeth Queram regarding the proposed Guilford County budget for four additional school nurses and one nurse supervisor. Click to read more:
New Intern for Project ONE
Amy Shadron is the newest member of the Project ONE team. She started working as an intern beginning in Spring 2017. Amy graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) from James Madison University and has been working as a surgical stepdown Registered Nurse in Durham, NC since 2014. She started pursuing her Masters […]
North Carolina continues to get mixed grades for children’s health issues
In a recently released annual report from NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine on the overall health of our children, our state received mixed grades. Good progress in some areas, but also areas of “profound concern n” including our struggle to establish “proper student-to-nurse ratios”. Read more here:
School Nurses Can Be Mental Health ‘Detectives’ But They Need Help
This story is part of our NPR Ed series on mental health in schools. Patricia Tolson has some visitors. Two 5-year-old girls, best friends, hold hands in her office at Van Ness Elementary School in Washington, D.C., one complaining she doesn’t feel well. Tolson, the school nurse, asks, “How long has your stomach been hurting?” […]
Guilford grapples with shortage of school nurses
Kate Elizabeth Queram wrote an article in the News & Record about the challenges facing school nurses because of the low number of nurses for the number of students in Guilford County Schools. Read her article here. Photo by Joseph Rodriguez with News & Record