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Your essential back-to-school health checklist

What is the most important thing to get your children ready for school? It is best summed up by the concept that “children learn best when they are healthy.” Here's a check list that covers the health basics for kids.

Today's guest blogger is Rhona H. Cooper, MSN, MA, RN, CBIS, School Health Coordinator for the School District of Philadelphia.

In July, I heard the first commercial of the summer from a national office supply store announcing that "it's the most wonderful time of the year" because the return to school is coming, and now it's right around the corner. You know the one. The parents are celebrating while they are being encouraged to get their children ready for the new school year by purchasing pencils, calculators, and assorted supplies. Unfortunately, all the pencils in the world or the fanciest book bag will not contribute to making a child successful at school when the basic need for good health is not addressed.

What is the most important thing to get your children ready for school? It is best summed up by the concept that "children learn best when they are healthy." A child who cannot see the blackboard or read the letters in a book clearly, or a student who is not getting enough oxygen to help his brain work well because his asthma is poorly controlled…these are children who will already start classes behind.

A child who does not have all of her shots stands the risk of having a preventable disease that could cause serious illness. She also faces the potential of many weeks of absence, once she starts mixing with students who are not always careful about covering a cough or washing hands. Did you ever wonder why kids seem to get sick a lot at the beginning of the school year?

For a child to be truly ready for school, the health basics need to be addressed, some because they are the law and others because they are best practice:

Immunizations: Regulations vary slightly in certain areas, but your primary care provider will know which age/grade appropriate shots your child needs to attend school. At the beginning of the school year, you should provide the school nurse with your child's most current shot record. The nurse can advise you on any gaps.

Physical and dental health: Physical and dental exams are also required on first-time entry to school, and again in certain grades, but regular exams just make good sense to be sure that your child does not have a problem that will stand in the way of his fullest potential. For instance, poor oral health, in the form of cavities and gum infections leading to chronic pain, is a major cause of increased absences and inability to concentrate.  It is heartbreaking for school nurses to see a young child with a mouth full of painful holes in their teeth.

Asthma: This deserves a category all of its own. The number of students who are diagnosed as having asthma is huge! Poorly controlled asthma is another cause for school absence, inability to concentrate, poor energy levels, trips to the emergency room and even death. And yet, asthma is completely controllable if managed aggressively by using "controller" medications to prevent attacks and prescribing a medication that can be used occasionally when an attack happens. Your health care provider can help your child achieve control.

This leads to the point that your child's school can work with you to keep your child safe during the school day, but only if you share information about your child's health with the school nurse, provide the nurse with the prescribed medications and, VERY IMPORTANT, current working phone numbers to use in an emergency. The school nurse will create a "care plan" for your child that everybody in the building is obligated to follow.

Schools are your partners in protecting your child's health when you empower them by actively sharing information with the school nurse. They will do what needs to be done so that your child can reach his or her highest potential without the barrier of poor health.

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