LONG COVID
Sean attended a conference last week – Coalition of Oregon School Administrators – slides forwarded from the conference
Supporting Students with Pediatric Long COVID
TIME OFF REQUESTS
REQUEST FOR TIME OFF DATES NO LONGER AVAILABLE:
10/17 – 10/18
11/3/22 – 11/4/22
11/9/22
12/15/22 – 12/16/22
SCHOOL HEALTH AND NURSING SERVICES RELATED TO PANDEMIC
Sean attended a conference last week – Coalition of Oregon School Administrators – slides forwarded from the conference
Emerging from the Pandemic: School Health and Nursing Services
POISON CONTROL
Have you ever had a student come to you stating that they squirted hot sauce in their eye? What about a student who has ingested ice melt on the sidewalk? Well, both of these scenarios have happened and much much more!!
Poison Exposure
Toxicologists use the term “poison exposure” instead of “poisoning” to refer to an incident involving a person who swallows or comes in contact with a substance that might be poisonous. Contact could be swallowing, splashed in the eyes or on the skin, breathed in, or injected. Often the substance isn’t as toxic as one initially thinks it might be, or the amount taken is so low that no bad effect is expected. Since symptoms may not develop, technically these exposures can’t be called “poisonings”.
Two ways to get help for a poison exposure/poisoning:
1: Use the webpoisoncontrol online tool – when there are no serious symptoms, most single substances, unintentional (no self-harm or suicide attempts), age 6 months to 79 years, not pregnant, otherwise healthy.
2: Call Poison Control – 1-800-222-1222
AQI
Tools available to assess air quality.
*Note sent to level leader blogs this week…
Please make sure all of your administrators are aware of the tools available to assess whether or not students can be outside/participate in outdoor activities. Additionally, the air quality can rapidly change and what may have been an acceptable AQI number at 8 could change to an unacceptable number at 9. This should be taken into consideration with field trips.
Download the Oregon Air app. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/oregonair/id1330462330
Another tool that can be used is the 5-3-1 Index.
Estimating visibility using the 5-3-1 Index
Determine the limit of your visual range by looking for distant targets or familiar landmarks such as mountains, mesas, hills, or buildings at known distances (miles). The visual range is that point at which these targets are no longer visible. As a general rule of thumb: if you can clearly see the outlines of individual trees on the horizon it is generally less than five miles away.
Ideally, the viewing of any distance targets should be made with the sun behind you. Looking into the sun or at an angle increases the ability of sunlight to reflect off of the smoke, and thus making the visibility estimate less reliable.
Once distance has been determined, follow this simple guide:
- If visibility is well over five miles, the air quality is generally good.
- Even if visibility is five miles away but generally hazy, air quality is moderate and beginning to deteriorate, and is generally healthy, except possibly for smoke sensitive persons. The general public should avoid prolonged exposure if conditions are smoky to the point where visibility is closer to the 5-mile range.
- If under five miles, the air quality is unhealthy for young children, adults over age 65, pregnant women, and people with heart and/or lung disease, asthma or other respiratory illness. These people should minimize outdoor activity.
- If under three miles, the air quality is unhealthy for everyone. Young children, adults over age 65, pregnant women, and people with heart and/or lung disease, asthma or other respiratory illness. These people should minimize outdoor activity.
- If under one mile, the air quality is unhealthy for everyone. Everyone should avoid all outdoor activities.
Using the 5-3-1 Visibility Index
| Distance you can see* | You are: | OR | You have | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An adult A teenager An older child | Age 65 and over Pregnant A young child | Asthma Respiratory illness Lung or heart disease | ||
| 5 miles | check visibility | minimize outdoor activity | minimize outdoor activity | |
| 3 miles | minimize outdoor activity | stay inside | stay inside | |
| 1 mile | stay inside | stay inside | stay inside |
No matter how far you can see, if you feel like you are having health effects from smoke exposure, take extra care to stay inside or get to an area with better air quality. You should also see your doctor or other health professional as needed.
* less reliable under high humidity conditions *
NURSE MANUAL UPDATES
Please let Tami know if you see something that needs to be updated in the Nurse Service Manual.
*Concussion – Documents have all been updated including Return to School Project information.
STUDENTS WITH MEDICAL NEEDS IN EMERGENT SITUATIONS
Because lock downs could potentially take hours to clear, please remind teachers/staff to have a plan in place should an unforseen event occur.
- Ex: lock down – diabetic student
- Ensure that snacks/fast acting sugars, emergency medications are accessable
- In the past, nurses have distributed smarties in zip lock bags to teachers to have on hand.
- Let Tami know if this is something you would like to do and we will order supplies.