Preserve Health Services position in Cedar Rapids schools

As professional school nurses in the Cedar Rapids Community School District we would like to make our community aware of the district's proposal to eliminate the Health Services Manager position.

Most parents are not aware that there is not a school nurse in every school in Cedar Rapids. School nurses have multiple building assignments so each school has unlicensed assistive personnel (UAL) to whom we delegate nursing procedures. We train our UAL's in First Aid, CPR and Medication Administration.

Each year we have increasing numbers of students in schools with chronic illness. We have students with, among other health conditions: severe disabilities, tracheotomies, feeding tubes, diabetes, life-threatening allergies, cystic fibrosis, cancer and seizures. Ten percent of our students have asthma. Thirty-two percent of our time as school nurses is spent assisting students with mental health or emotional and behavior needs.

Due to previous budget cuts we have only the full-time equivalent of 13 nurses to care for approximately 16,000 students in 32 buildings. Our average school nurse-to-student ratio is 1:1,100 with some assigned to cover as many as 2,300 students. The national recommendation are one nurse for 750 well students, one per 250 students with special education needs and 1 for every 125 students with severe disabilities.

The Cedar Rapids School District nurses actually bring in revenue to the district because we are allowed to bill for nursing services to help fund the care needed for students with special health services in the school setting. We have always been proud to be a part of a progressive, proactive school district that puts the health, welfare and education of our students at the forefront of every decision.

This proposed cut potentially compromises the integrity of our comprehensive health system for the district.

Teachers are led by teaching experts, counselors are led by counseling experts, cafeteria staff are led by food and nutrition experts, bus drivers are led by transportation experts, and the Health Services Department needs to be led by a health professional.

We sympathize with the unenviable position of district administration and school board, who have publicly committed to finding budget cuts in areas where the impact is felt least by students. However, Health Service Supports are needed for all of our students, staff and families in the district. Please believe us when we say school nurses do not just put Band-Aids on students. We do much more to keep our students healthy and in school.

Please consider contacting school board members and state Legislators to express your concerns about the health and welfare of our students. In the words of former Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders:

'You cannot educate a child who is not healthy, and you cannot keep a child healthy who is not educated.'

Laura Wheeler MEd BSN RN NCSN (Nationally Certified School Nurse)

Jill Asprey MA ARNP PNP-BC NCSN

Sandy Byard BSN RN NCSN

Amy Duggan, BSN, RN, NCSN CEN

Cindy Fagan BSN RN

Sara Gordon MA ARNP CPNP

Sarah Hamilton MSN RN

Sally Immerfall MEd BSN RN NCSN

Deborah Johnson BSN RN

Sharon Neilly BSN RN

Susan Rumelhart MA ARNP CPNP RN-BC NCSN

Jan Schneider BSN RN

Kim Seward BSN RN

Connie Trautman BSN RN

Caren Wasta BSN RN

• Comments: c/o Laura Wheeler, 2325 31 St. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52404; 319-784-7657