Financial support from WPHF allows Baldwin Park Elementary to hire either a Licensed Practical Nurse or Registered Nurse. All nurses are required to take continuing medical education classes to keep their licenses current in the state of Florida.
Our school nurse performs a variety of screenings during the school year. Some, such as vision and hearing screenings are scheduled according to developmental patterns. Other screenings and assessments occur in the clinic daily. Our Nurse and teachers are constantly on the lookout for issues that may create barriers to learning, such as malnutrition, poverty, and domestic abuse.
Orange County policy requires that all prescriptions and over-the-counter medicine that students receive at school must be kept in the school nurse’s office. Children are never allowed to transport medication to or from school. Parents or guardians must complete OCPS Medication Authorization forms for all student prescription and over-the-counter medications and bring the medicine into the clinic to be stored. These forms are available from the nurse’s office.
>Our school nurse is also available to the faculty. If there are questions about diet, exercise, or general health issues, the school nurse can be an excellent resource. In addition, she can provide information to children about eating right, physical activity, and avoiding harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.
The goals of a school nurse are to help alleviate illness, promote wellness and help individuals function at their highest level. In the school setting, this translates into preventing and addressing illnesses and injuries that keep students from learning.