Melissa Posipanko, BSN, RN
School Nurse
phone: (609) 631-4170 option 3
email: mposipanko@htsdnj.org

Welcome to the Yardville Health Office! We are open on school days from 8:35 am to 3:35 pm. We provide care for students that become sick or injured during the school day. Please remember, we are not a doctor's office or clinic and are unable to diagnose.

 

 * Handwashing is a top priority!!  Remind your children not to touch their eyes, nose, or mouth and to cover all their coughs and sneezes. Thank you in advance for your continued support in helping each other stay healthy! *

Handwashing Video for Children

 

**Communicable Diseases**

Hamilton Township School District is asking for your assistance and cooperation in controlling communicable diseases. The following guidelines are meant to control the spread of communicable disease in the classroom.

Fever Any student with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be excluded from school and must not return until they are fever free for 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medications such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

Cough Students that are coughing continuously should remain at home if the cough interferes with the child’s or other students’ abilities to concentrate on their schoolwork

Vomiting Any student who vomits will be excluded from school and should not return until they are free from vomiting for 24 hours and can tolerate normal meals

Strep Throat (streptococcal infections). Please notify the school nurse if your child has been diagnosed with Strep throat. Students must be on antibiotics and be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.

Pink Eye (bacterial conjunctivitis). Students must be on an antibiotic for 24 hours and have no purulent (green or yellow) discharge from the eye to return to school.

Please consider the following symptoms as an indication of illness:

• A fever of 100 degrees or higher
• A prolonged colored nasal discharge accompanied by other symptoms
• Persistent cough
• Upset stomach
• Diarrhea
• Headache and/or irritability

Please consider the health of your child and that of the entire school as you make your decision to send your child to school. One sick child can expose an entire classroom of students to infection.  If you medicate your child prior to sending them to school, symptoms will not show until the afternoon, exposing the entire school community to the illness.

**ATTENDANCE**

 

• Call the attendance line EVERY TIME your child is absent at 609-631-4170, press 4, and provide your child's name, classroom, and the reason for their absence. This helps the nurse keep track of outbreaks of reportable diseases.

• Please update phone numbers (home, cell, work and emergency contacts) in PowerSchool if there have been any changes. It is extremely important that we be able to reach you in case of an emergency with your child.

• Please have a dismissal plan in place where your child can be picked up within 30 minutes in case of illness or injury.
• There is now an automated robocall system for absences. Even if you have called the school, the robocall will be generated automatically and is not within our control. Please continue to communicate with the school, particularly if your child is ill, so that the nurse can provide guidance and track illness trends.

**5th Grade Vaccines Reminders**

All students entering the 6^th grade are required to receive one dose of Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Acellular Pertussis) and one dose of meningococcal-containing vaccine. Your child will bring home reminder notices. Once they have received the required vaccines please provide the nurse with the documentation. Any student whose 11^th birthday falls after the start of the 6^th grade school year should have an appointment made as close to their birthday as possible and bring the updated shot record to their middle school nurse upon completion of the required immunizations.

**Preschool Flu Vaccine Reminder**

All preschool students are required under administrative rules N.J.A.C. 8:57-4 to receive a flu (influenza) vaccine between August 1 and December 31 of each school year.  Your child will bring home reminder notices.  Once the vaccine is received, please provide the nurse with documentation.  Completion of one dose of flu (influenza) vaccine is required annually to prevent exclusion from school in January.  If you are uninsured or if your insurance does not cover immunizations, contact the Hamilton Township Division of Health at (609)890-3884 for an appointment to receive free immunizations.

**Health Reminders**

Absences/Lateness/Doctor Notes: Please call the attendance line (or the school nurse directly if you prefer) if your child is going to be absent or coming in late to school. The nurse is required to track illnesses reportable to the Health Department and State. It helps very much if you share this information with her.  If you know in advance your child will be absent or away, inform the nurse as well as the teacher. When visiting your child's doctor, dentist, orthodontist, etc., please obtain a note from their office to document the reason for their absence. It is very important that we have a note on file in the case of attendance issues. If your child has orthopedic equipment (crutches, braces, surgical boots), staples, stitches, a concussion or any other restrictive conditions including no gym or recess, the nurse will need a doctor's note to specify the injury and length of time they are expected to have restricted activity. For your child's safety, he/she will be excluded from gym and recess until we receive a clearance note from their doctor that they may return to unrestricted activity.

Medications: In order to give your child ANY medication in school (inhalers, antibiotics, eye drops, cough medicine, tylenol, etc), there must be a written doctor's order. The medication order form can be obtained from the nurse. It must be filled out by the doctor, signed by a parent/guardian and returned to the nurse along with the medication in its original pharmacy box. Students are not allowed to carry or bring medication to school, it MUST be brought in by an adult and given to the nurse.  Cough Drops can be brought into school with a parent's note. They will be kept in the nurse's office and distributed as needed.

Links to our Medication forms are listed below:

Asthma Packet

Medication Administration Form

Asthma Action Plan

Food Allergy Packet

Medication Administration Form

Food Allergy Action Plan

Request for Emergency Administration of Epi

Maschio's Food Safe Menu

Seizure Packet

Seizure Action Plan

Medication Administration Form

Release of Medical Information

Diabetic Management packet

Medication Administration Form

Diabetic Action Plan

Other medications

Medication Administration Form

Pupil Self-Medication Form

 

 

 

Screenings: Your child's state-mandated annual health screenings will take place throughout the school year. You will receive notification of the results of your child's screening if there are any concerns which need to be followed up by his or her doctor. If there are any recommendations for further evaluation (such as failed vision screen), please take the screening notification form with you to the doctors and return it to the nurse with results of the follow-up. If you need assistance obtaining follow-up or have financial difficulties, please contact the nurse for a list of resources available to you.

Office Visits: You will NOT be notified of every visit to the health office. I will contact you with any concerns or recommendations as needed. Please reach out to me through phone or email with any health related concerns.

Shine and Inspire: Through community partnerships, we have a supply of hygiene items available to students in need. Please contact the school nurse if your family could benefit from these items.

New Students: Please complete the following forms upon school registration, as well as submitting the most recent immunization records. These forms are required by the state, and will lead to exclusion from school if not completed.

Medical Exam Form

Health History Form (to be completed by parent)

Formulario de historial médico (para ser completado por los padres)

 

Additional Resources for Food - please click on the links below for a list of Food Pantries in Mercer County.

•  List of Food Pantries