Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/939681
Y E A R S A G O , nearly every school had a nurse, recalls Dr. F. Ndidi U. Griffin-Myers, director of the School of Nursing at Fresno State University, which has a school nurse credential program. But times have changed, observes the California Faculty Association member. Due to budget cuts, the number of school nurses has dwindled in California. Nurses are now often responsible for multiple schools and large populations of students, coinciding with more students with serious health issues attending schools. "In the old days, you bandaged a kid with a scrape or handled an occasional emergency, but now we are talking about feeding tubes, diabetes, epilepsy, students with heart problems, severe food allergies, and acute and chronic illnesses," says Griffin-Myers. "e lack of school nurses in California puts children at risk." School nurses are essential in meeting students' health needs By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin Photos by Scott Buschman V i t a l R o l e s Lynda Boyer-Chu, a nurse at George Washington High School in San Francisco, gives a flu shot to Taylor Miller. 26 cta.org Feature