‘Students learn better when they are healthy’
The Healthy People 2010 initiative recommends a ratio of one school nurse to every 750 students.
In Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the ratio is one school nurse to every 8,500 students, worse than it was in 1902.
At the same time, the medical needs of public school students are becoming increasing complex, aggravated by poverty, poor access to preventive health care, and language barriers. An estimated 30,000 MPS students have no health insurance, and the only medical attention they may receive comes from school nurses.
It’s simple, says Riverside University High School (RUHS) Principal Dan Donder, whose school is partnering with UWM’s School of Education and College of Nursing, as well as others in the community, to develop a comprehensive wellness program: “Students learn better when they are healthy.”
The College of Nursing and the School of Education are collaborating with each other, and with schools and community partners, to help students maintain and improve their health.
For example, working through the Institute for Urban Health Partnerships, the College of Nursing has long been providing nursing services to several schools through its Community Nursing Centers.
More recently, the institute received federal funding to develop a demonstration project at Riverside University High School and other schools.
“This is an expansion of a School Nursing Model that the institute has had in place for years and years,” says Sally Lundeen, dean of the College of Nursing, who wrote the federal grant proposal.
The School of Education is helping Riverside develop innovative wellness education and health careers program for students. Corliss D. Wood, administrator of the School of Education’s Partnerships for Education, serves on Riverside’s governance council as a liaison between the high school and UWM. Bruce Freeman, a graduate student in the family practice/nurse practitioner program in the College of Nursing, is serving as Riverside’s school nurse through the recent federal grant.
“One of our major focuses in the community has to be on developing ways to have quality health care in the schools,” says Wood.
Community Nursing Centers
The College of Nursing has long been involved with the schools through its community-based nursing centers. Here is one example of how the program makes a difference in individual students’ lives.
Tara Guberud, the school nurse at Franklin Pierce Elementary School, who is part of UWM’s Institute for Urban Health Partnerships, found out that two brothers were sharing a pair of glasses because their family couldn’t afford two pairs. She brought the situation to the attention of school officials and helped get them in touch with a Lenscrafters program designed to help low-income students. Now both boys have glasses.
Riverwest Pierce is one of three Community Nursing Centers, which bring wellness/preventive care and primary health care to the community - and to a number of schools - through College of Nursing students and staff. The Silver Spring Community Nursing Center has been providing nursing services to the Silver Spring Academy since the late 1980s, and to Browning Elementary School for the past several years.
A recent School Nursing Model federal grant is allowing UWM to set up a comprehensive nursing model at other Milwaukee schools, including Riverside University High School.
Riverside University High School tests a new way to teach wellness
Riverside University High School is taking a team approach to creating a comprehensive health and wellness program at the school.
Principal Dan Donder works with a team that includes representatives from the physical education program, the health education program, the careers and guidance areas, and the school nurse. The goal is not only to improve overall student health and fitness, but to introduce students to careers in the health and wellness fields, says Donder.
UWM’s School of Education and College of Nursing are both involved in the collaborative effort.
Wood assists in finding tutors for Riverside University students, and creates and provides linkages to UWM faculty and staff.
Freeman serves as school nurse and works closely with the school’s wellness planning efforts. (And, he adds, he’s also a role model for young men who might want to consider nursing careers).
At Riverside, the health education and physical education areas work with counselors and the school nurse to educate students and their families about health risk factors facing teens, and teach students the skills they need to have a healthy, happy, and successful high school career.
Teens today bring new and more complicated health, social, and psychological problems to school, says Freeman. An obesity epidemic is affecting future health. Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are a reality. AIDS, asthma, diabetes, and other health conditions require regular medications or monitoring.
Students also can be facing the stresses of poverty or difficult family and personal relationships. Drugs, alcohol, violence, and guns, combined with normal teen risk-taking, can make for dangerous choices.
The school addresses myriad issues through a variety of approaches, integrating the work of many areas. For example, the health educators and physical education classes work together with the school nurse to help students improve their diet and exercise regimens, look at their family history for potential risk factors, and check their blood pressure and BMI (body mass index) to assess current fitness, says Pam Kutcher, Riverside’s department chair of physical education.“There’s a real focus on taking care of themselves…taking care of the mind and body,” says Paul Zettel, health education instructor. “We really talk about making life style changes.”
Counselors and health educators, with input from the school nurse, are working to educate teens about developing healthy relationships, dealing with conflict, handling stress, and improving attendance, grades, and test scores.
The comprehensive wellness model also provides before- and after-school programming for students, staff, and community members.
Through the school’s “Wellness Services Strand,” students can learn more about careers in physical education, health care, counseling, education, social services, and other areas, explains Karen Lustig, head of the health sciences and consumer education program.
The Riverside program is connected to the Milwaukee Partnership Academy (MPA) through MPS. MPA is a coalition of business, university, community, and labor groups working to improve education. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Area Deans of Higher Education, a collaboration of private and public higher education institutions, grew out of MPA. This group has focused attention on the need to help MPS students in areas such as health care curriculum development. UWM is an MPA partner.
For more information, visit these Web sites:
Milwaukee Public Schools: http://www.milwaukee.k12.wi.us.
Milwaukee Partnership Academy: http://www.milwaukeepartnershipacademy.org.
Partnerships for Education:http://www.edpartnr.soe.uwm.edu.
URL: http://www.uwm.edu/News/Features/06.04/School_Nurses.html
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