The clinic at Dunbar Middle School is open from 8am-3:30pm to provide care for all students, staff and faculty. Shirley Gillespie (RN, BSN) is available for parents or guardians to call regarding their child’s health concerns at (434) 522-3740.
Absentee Policy
Due to the recent outbreak of H1N1, cautionary standards and procedures are being taken.
Any child who comes into the clinic complaining of flu-like symptoms such as headache or nausea will have their temperature taken. To contain the spread of illness, specifically H1N1, any child with a fever over 100˚ Fahrenheit will be sent home. They must remain at home until they have been without a fever and without medication for 24 hours.
Any child who presents with illness must be sent to the clinic where Shirley Gillespie will only contact persons listed on the Emergency Medical Form. In order to provide the best care for you and your child, please be sure to keep the phone numbers and contact names on this form up to date. If the student is sent home from school, student will be kept in the clinic until the person picking the student up signs a release form. Unless the child attends a half day of classes or more, the child will be considered absent. For any additional days that the child is kept home from school, the parent must provide the main office with a signed excuse note.
School Policy on Medication Administration
The parent may bring in medications for the child to take and store in the clinic, but the nurse does not have medications on hand from the school to dispense to students. Nurse may contact persons listed on a child’s Emergency Medical Form to bring in medication for child or to take the child home in case of illness. Any medication given to the student by the nurse must be brought in by the child’s guardian.
Medication Permission Forms are required if your child will be taking medication at school. ALL Medication Permission Forms must be signed by the child’s physician. They are available at the school and must be completed for both prescription and over-the-counter medications.
Care of Children with Chronic Illness
The School Nurse is available to provide care for children with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or asthma. In such cases, school nurse will work with the child and guardians to carry out the plan of care instituted by the child’s primary care physician. Resources such as insulin, oral medication, a list of carbohydrate values and glucometers for the care of such a child with diabetes may be stored in the clinic. The child will have scheduled medication administration times throughout the day or as recommended by the physician’s plan of care. However, all medications such as insulin, inhalers or glucometers must still be brought in by the child’s guardian and authorized by the physician.
State Requirements for Health Documentation and Screenings
All seventh graders are required by state law to have their hearing and vision screened. All eighth graders are required to be screened for Body Mass Index (BMI). All students who are new to Lynchburg City Schools are required to have their BMI, hearing and vision tested. Vision and hearing screenings will be performed by the school clinic within 60 days of the child’s first day attending Dunbar Middle School.
All students who play sports are required to hand in a signed and completed form dated after May 1 of the previous school year to provide proof of a physical. Athletes should turn these completed forms into the school’s athletic director. Each student must turn in documentation of physical performed by their physician that they have taken at some time, but it does not need to be within the past year if they are not an athlete.
Students must turn in their TDap immunization record from their physician before they are allowed to register for the sixth grade. All other immunizations must be up to date or the child may be excluded from school.
A medical record form will be sent home with your child at the beginning of the school year. Please be sure to fill this out completely and notify the school nurse of any allergies or medical conditions in order for the school to provide the best care for your child.
What are Some Ways to Prevent My Child from Getting Sick?
Wash hands before eating, after eating and after using the bathroom. Also wash hands after touching objects like other desks, computer keypads or water fountains. Other people may have touched this object before you and spread their germs to that item. Also, avoid touching hands to the face or mouth because this may spread germs from the hands into the body and cause infection.
Eat a healthy breakfast, get 8-10 hours of sleep and participate in some type of physical exercise. All of these actions are important in keeping your body’s immune system strong enough to fight off bacterial and viral infections.
