SCASN NEWSLETTER. Message from the President- New Faces, New Opportunities

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1 SCASN NEWSLETTER South Carolina Association of School Nurses SCASN Newsletter Fall 2007 Message from the President- New Faces, New Opportunities I ve met so many school nurses this year I wish the SCASN School Nurse Directory was a photo directory so I could keep up with all the new faces. I met 85 new school nurses in September at the New School Nurse orientation in Columbia. Many of this year s new school nurses were hired utilizing funding for licensed nurses from the Student Health & Fitness Act. Many of these nurses are working in schools that have never had a full-time school nurse. With so many new school nurses this year, Cathy Young-Jones has happily scheduled a second New Nurse Orientation for February I have met many new district lead nurses in October at the School Nurses Program Advisory Committee meeting. Most South Carolina school districts now have a designated district lead nurse and more and more districts are making this a full-time position utilizing the Student Health & Fitness funding. It is always such a joy to meet school nurse colleagues from around the state at the November School Nurse Conference in Charleston. At this year s conference, I was able to speak with many of the now 187 SCASN members. We have so many new members our membership numbers have never been so high! Calendar February 2008 New School Nurse Orientation May 7, 2008 National School Nurses Day June 11, 2008 SCASN Annual meeting, Myrtle Beach, SC June 12, th Annual SCASN Summer Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC June 28-July 1, 2008 NASN 40 th Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Pre-conference June 27) November 20-21, th Annual School Nurse Conference, North Charleston, SC Thank you SCASN members for promoting SCASN membership. Your colleagues have been listening to you. Jessica Porter, RN, BSN, NCSN

2 SCASN Newsletter December 2007 CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS SCASN SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES AWARD The School Health Services Award is presented annually to honor an individual or entity, other than a school nurse/s, whose contributions or accomplishments to the field of school health have made a positive impact on the lives of school students. It is created to bestow public recognition and honor on someone or some group whose support of school nursing and school health promotion is exemplary. Award winners may be from within the educational community or from some other part of the community that serves the health interests of school students. School Health Services Award Winner Horry County Schools SCASN SCHOOL NURSE (LPN) OF THE YEAR AWARD The SC School Health LPN of the Year Award is presented annually by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and the SC Department of Education to publicly recognize and honor a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) who has made outstanding contributions to school nursing practice Winner: Susan Plyler Lancaster County School District SCASN SCHOOL NURSE (RN) OF THE YEAR AWARD The SC School Nurse (RN) of the Year Award is presented annually by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and the SC Department of Education to publicly recognize and honor a Registered Nurse (RN) practicing in a school setting who has made outstanding contributions to school nursing practice Winner: Barbara Ramsbottom Horry County School District Healthy Hoops Comes to Charleston The Lowcountry Winter Fest is a free half-day basketball camp on January 12, 2008 at Burke High School in Charleston with instruction and tips from the pros at All Ball! It also includes information about the Healthy Hoops Program, asthma management and education, live entertainment, giveaways and refreshments. For more information and registration forms for your students, go to

3 SCASN Newsletter December 2007 STATE DIRECTOR REPORT Carolyn Duff, RN, MS, NCSN In this busy month of December, your NASN Board is gearing up for the NASN Board of Directors Meeting at the end of January in Alexandria, Virginia. Task forces are being formed to do the work of the organization over the next six months, and plans are underway to create the legislative wish list that the members of the Board will promote when they make their annual visits to their members of Congress. The NASN Board works hard for school nurses and values your ideas and responses to NASN activities. So, please, as you read your NASN Newsletter and your Weekly Digest, if you have some thoughts or ideas to share, call me ( ) or call NASN directly ( ). We want to hear from you. The NASN staff is available to members Monday through Friday to answer questions on practice issues or to hear your stories about your daily practice and the concerns you have. Your contacts with the staff inform the staff and then the Board of what your needs may be and what direction the organization should take in order to meeet the needs of the members. So if you call and offer a comment or concern, do not be surprised if your NASN Director, that would be me, ends up leading a task force to investigate the issue you brought up. Your ideas are very important, and it is important for all school nurses and for your profession that you express them. Another way you can tell your stories and get questions answered is to join one of the NASN on-line Discussion Lists. You can find out more about the Discussion Lists by going to and lookig to the menu on the left of your screen. Click on Discussion List, and you will find the explanation that I have copied for you here. A Discussion List is an electronic mailing list for communicating with other people who have subscribed to the same list. Using , you can participate in an NASN Discussion List(s) pertaining to your school nursing sub-specialty practice or a specific area of interest to school nursing. The purpose of NASN's Discussion Lists is to facilitate networking and professional growth among NASN members. Each NASN Discussion List is monitored by an NASN member who has a special interest in the List's area of discussion. How does it work? When you submit a message to a Discussion List, your message is relayed to all those on the List. You receive messages from other participants via . The result is similar to a newsgroup or forum, except that the messages are transmitted as and are therefore available only to individuals on the list. NOTE: Due to virus sophistication and SPAM, all postings are held for Administrative approval. Posting are reviewed daily during business days. Approval requires that postings be from List members, free from viruses, and not regarded as SPAM.

4 SCAN Newsletter December 2007 Areas of Discussion open to all NASN Members: Nursing Languages and Information Technology Legislative Issues School Nurse Administrators Special Needs & Early Childhood School Nurses School Nurse Educators Elementary School Nurses Middle School Nurses High School Nurses Private and Parochial School Nurses Areas of Discussion with restricted access: NASN Board of Directors NASN Affiliate Presidents NASN Affiliate Membership Chairs and Membership contacts NASN H.A.N.D.S. SM Instructors NASN CDC-NDEP MAP Project (Managing and Preventing Diabetes) The NASN website is a treasure trove of information, continuing education opportunities (many of which are free), professional interaction opportunities, and much more. Please check it out. It gets better all of the time, thanks to the webmaster, Sharon Conley, the NASN staff, the Task Forces composed of members of the Board of Directors, one from each state, and thanks to you who lets NASN know what you want and need from your professional organization. I hope you all have a wonderful, restful and peaceful holiday season! Carolyn Duff, cduff@richlandone.org SCASN's most recently updated SC School Nurse Directory is completed. Please send any corrections or additions to Jessica Porter at jporter@lexington1.net. I hope the directory is useful in your professional practice. Jessica Porter, RN, BSN, NCSN SCASN President Tel Happiness lies, first of all, in health George W.Curtis

5 SCASN Newsletter December 2007 What do you mean, I should join SCASN/NASN? Do you think I have an extra $ on a scholl nurses salery? Besides, what possible good could being a member do me? I m just a local-level school nurse working to make a living. I bet you have asked yourself these questions when you have received literature from the South Carolina School Nurses Asssociation or attended a conference and seen other nurses wearing their badges. In many ways these questions are legitimate. But being a member does many things for you at the local and national levels, and becoming a member may not be as painful as you think. When I started as a school nurse, I decided then and there to become involved. I knew I surely didn t have any extra money (since I just took the biggest pay cut of my career), but I knew there had to be a way. During my first few months, I sought the advise of school nurses over many issues. One issue that became particularly important was how to help a student get eyeglasses. That was when a SCASN/NASN member told me about Sight for Students. This program is phenomenal. It is open to NASN members and it is free. Sight for Students allows qualified students to receive a free eye exam and free glasses! I decided I would have to become a member, but where would the money come from? That s when the light bulb went off teachers get money from the PTA, so why not a school nurse. I approached the PTA board and explained if they paid for my annual dues, I could get 25 of the sight vouchers annually. They decided that their investment in paying my dues would be well worth their money. So remember, there are other alternatives to your wallet for joinng SCASN/NASN. We would love to have your input into the organization at both the State and National levels. Two programs on the national level may affect your everyday life in the clinic. NASN is one of many organizations who have signed on as a partner with the Campaign for Children s Health Care. As a Partner organization, NASN supports the Campaign through coordinating public education efforts that demonstrate the importance of health insurance for children and families and show why national action is needed to expand coverage for children. The State Children s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is up for congressional reauthorization in NASN is working with Families USA and other organizations to improve SCHIP through the reauthorization process. NASN has signed on a letter to President Bush supporting the reauthorization. I encourage each of you to look for alternative funding for your membership. It is available and SCASN would love to have every school nurse in South Carolina become a member of our organization. Mary Bebensee, RN, BSN, NASN Whiteside Elementary School Charleston County Schools

6 Thank you for visiting the SCASN display at the November 2007 School Nurses Conference in Charleston. We had many non-members stop by and ask for membership information. Thank you, Joy McGaha (Spartanburg 5) for supporting SCASN with your beautiful jewelry. The proceeds from the sale of Joy s jewelry have funded many SCASN projects. Carolyn Hatcher (Anderson1) shown in the top left is our new chairperson for Ways and Means. She almost sold out of the school nurse lunch boxes but there should be more at out 2008 Myrtle Beach Conference. Thank you, Joy and Carolyn for your dedication to SCASN.

7 December 2 8 is National Hand washing Awareness Week Keeping hands clean is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of infection and illness. As school nurses, we are responsible for the well being of many individuals. The national headlines in the past year have included the common cold as well as MRSA and pandemic flu. The SC DHEC website provides extensive information and fact sheets for use by nurses in educating the public. Up to date information and resources can also be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Working together, we can stop the spread of disease. Here is a chance to experience real empathy for our students facing final exams Twenty-nine South Carolina school nurses were recognized at the Annual School Nurse Conference for actively maintaining National Board Certification. SCASN has heard from many nurses who are starting to prepare for the July/August 2008 examination dates for the National Certification Examination for School Nurses. South Carolina now has four sites where the exam will be administered in Whether you are planning to study individually or with a study group, start by checking the certification resources at NASN.org. SCASN maintains a list of SCASN Certification Mentors who will help you plan your studies. Application deadline is 5/31/08. Examination dates 7/26/08-8/9/08. Contact Gail Moss or Jessica Porter for more information.