Health Screening
Just a reminder that all 7th, 10th, and new-to-district students will undergo health screening starting in October. Health screening will include vision, hearing, height, and weight. If there is a concern regarding your student’s screening, a referral will be mailed home. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me @ 742-4963 or Williams_wendy@asdk12.org.
Red Ribbon Week 10/23 – 10/31 2010
Steller Secondary will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week again this year in an effort to educate our students about the dangers of substance abuse and encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Red Ribbon Week is a National Campaign that was initiated after drug traffickers in Mexico murdered DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki†Camarena. I would encourage you to get more information about Red Ribbon Week and talk with your student about substance abuse.
What you can do:
- Talk to your children about the dangers of drug abuse.
- Set clear rules for your children about not using drugs.
- Set a good example for your children by not using illegal drugs or medicine without a prescription.
- Monitor your children’s behavior and enforce appropriate consequences, so that your rules are respected.
- Encourage family and friends to follow the same guidelines to keep children safe from substance abuse.
Tips for parents to prevent prescription drug abuse from The National Family Partnership (WWW.NFP.ORG)
- If your child is on prescribed medication, monitor the dosages and refills. Set clear rules, such as, not sharing and always following proper dosages.
- Warn your youngsters that taking prescription or OTC drugs without a doctor’s supervision can be just as dangerous and potentially lethal as taking street drugs.
- Supervise your child’s Internet use: many pharmacy sites are not regulated and will sell your child medications without prescriptions.
- Properly dispose of old, expired or unused medicines in the trash. Hide or mix them with cat litter or coffee grounds before throwing them away in an empty can or bag.
- DO NOT flush medications down the drain or toilet, unless the label indicates it is safe to do so.
Cold & Flu Season
The official start of the flu season is the month of October. Although Steller has seen it’s fair share of sick students, it will likely get worse before it gets better (our flu season peaks in February and does not decline until April.) School attendance is important, however, a sick student who appears ill should remain home. Please do not send a sick student to school to be examined by the nurse. This may expose others to unnecessary illnesses. *Parents are notified before students are excused from school for illness. Please make sure your contact number(s) are kept current throughout the year and notify us when your student will be staying with a family friend or family member. Home care information can be found at:
<http://www.pandemicflu.alaska.gov/pdfs/HomeCareGuide.pdf>
What can families, students, and school personnel do to keep from getting sick and spreading the flu?
- Cover your mouth and nose. The main way that the flu spreads is from person to person in the droplets produced by coughs and sneezes, so cover coughs or sneezes with your elbow instead of your hand. If you are wearing short sleeves, use a tissue and wash your hands immediately.
- Practice good hand hygiene. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Hand sanitizers are also effective.
- Stay home if you are sick. Keeping sick students at home means that they keep their viruses to themselves rather than sharing them with others. Sick people should stay at home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medicine).
- Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact such as desks, door knobs, keyboards, phones, or pens, with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas.
Other important illness information:
- Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) should not be given to children or teenagers; this can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome.
- Contact your health care provider if you have an underlying respiratory illness or severe symptoms occur. Severe symptoms include: dehydration, not eating, listless, delusional, or unable to keep down any food or fluids, high fevers despite fever reducers, you have a high fever with rash, getting sick again after getting better, or with questions/concerns.
More information on Seasonal flu or H1N1 flu can be found at www.flu.gov or www.cdc.gov/flu
Nurse Wendy