School Health Program Overview

School Health Services ensure that school children are healthy and ready to learn. The presence of the school nurse can relieve teachers of monitoring and attending to student health needs so they are free to devote all of their time to educating students.  Also, school health programs afford parents the peace of mind in knowing that their child’s health needs will be handled by a trained health professional during the school day.

The Clay County Health Department manages the School Health Services Program in cooperation with the Clay County School District.  The Clay County School Health Program is staffed by a School Health Registered Nurse Supervisor, 3 School Health Registered Nurses, who each oversee 13 - 14 schools, and a Staff Assistant.  The Clay County School District School Health Services Programs has a Supervisor of Student Services who handles specific administrative aspects of the program.  The school district also employs 1 - 3 trained school health personnel at each school, consisting of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses and Clinic Health Assistants, depending on the health needs of the school population.  

School health staff provides many services to a steady flow of students in the school health room for any number of reasons, including:

cuts and bruises	headaches, dizziness, head injuries or seizures
head lice and skin rashes	earaches, sore throats and upper respiratory infections
personal and family problems	nosebleeds and asthma attacks
peer pressure and test anxiety	stomach aches, cramps, vomiting or diarrhea
vision, hearing, height-weight and scoliosis screenings	complex or chronic health conditions
assistance with administration of prescription and over-the-counter medications

Over the course of the 2011 – 2012 school year, school health staff provided:

• 271,129 student health evaluations and nursing assessments
• 85,111 consultations with parents and/or school staff
• 82,799 first aid treatments for students with injuries and/or other complaints
• 41,962 complex medical procedures for students with special medical needs
• 16,260 record reviews and immunization follow-ups to ensure that Clay’s school children are protected against preventable diseases
• 10,636 vision screenings
• 7,889 hearing screenings
• 2,652 scoliosis screenings
• 7,654 BMI screenings with 64% of the district’s school children who were screened being in the healthy weight range, 4% underweight, and 32% of the school population being either overweight or obese.

Coming Soon: SHAC Meeting Agendas and Minutes.

For information on Clay County's School Health Services program, call the School Health program at (904) 529-2854.

School Health Links