|
|
OASN Newsletter 
Spring Edition
March/April 2012
|
There is still time to join us at
the 39th Annual OASN Conference
Blue Ribbon Celebration of Ohio's Healthy Children April 20-22, 2012
at the Cleveland Marriott at W.150th St Conference Information & Registration
|
|
|
| | Board of Directors | |
Advocacy Committee
Executive Director
Eva Garchar- President
president@oasn.org
Public Relations Committee
Public Relations Director-
Denise Kauffman (NW)
pr@oasn.org
Membership Director
Dawn Abbott (SW)
Membership@oasn.org
Programs and Resources Committee
Chair - Pat Forrai-Gunter
Conference Chair
Pat Forrai-Gunter (NE)
OASN Newsletter Rep.
Judy Marrinan (SW)
Librarian/Historian
Joyce Ferguson
Website Rep.
Deb Stoner
CE Providership Rep.
Gabi Karpowicz
Professional Issues Committee
Research Chairs:
Reserach-
Nancy Mosca
Professional Issues
Susan Praeger
OASN Education and Research Endowment Advisory Committee
Endowment Chair
Norma Nikkola
Awards Chair
Mary Massey
Finance Committee
Finance Chair
Joan Keith
Nominations Committee
Chair - Kate King
REGIONAL PRESIDENTS
Central
Carol Lynne O'Neil
East
Northeast
Debbie Weisbarth
Northwest
Beth Roth
Southeast
Tammy Lorbach
Southwest
Mary Kozarec
REPS. FOR AFFILIATES
Ohio Action for Healthy Kids
Mary Kozarec
Buckeye Healthy Schools Alliance
Need Rep.
Children's Oral Health Action Team
Kate King
Ohio Dept. of Health
Ann Connelly
Ohio Tobacco Prevention Resource Control Group
Heidi Steiner
Ohio Asthma Coalition
Joan Keith
Nurses Environmental Advocacy Team of Ohio
Kate King
Immunization Advocacy Network of Network
Eva Garchar
Beacon Council
Need Rep.
|
|
|
|
President's Message
President's Message
On February 29, Heidi Steiner, Kate King and I attended Nurses Day at the Statehouse. What an exciting and productive day! I had the honor of being one of the panel presenters, speaking to a packed room of nurses from around the state and from many different nursing disciplines. Each panel presenter had only 3 minutes to share their message. Along with some personal stories, my message included some of these key points:
Children that have chronic health issues do not leave their health issues at home. They come to school with them. In the past 10 years we have seen the incidence of asthma increase by 40% and newly diagnosed cases of diabetes, food allergies, and anaphylaxis increase by 50%.
The educational setting is the only setting where healthcare can be delivered by unlicensed personnel. As adults, we would not expect to make appointments with secretaries and teachers to meet our own health care needs, so why is it OK for our children to have to do so while they are at school?
In Ohio, there is no mandate for school nurses and there is no funding for school nurses. Local districts are left with the burden of deciding if they can afford to employ school nurses in their buildings. I would argue can they afford not to?
Ohio's nurse to student ratio is 1:1,328, ranking us 32nd in the country. I believe we can do better than that.
The Ohio Association of School Nurses strongly supports opportunities that would improve students' access to school nurses. Finding a way to fund school nurses in Ohio would be our very first step.
From the gasps in the audience upon hearing what our ratio was, the mission of increased awareness and advocacy was successful.
Later in the afternoon, we met with several legislators and legislative aides. The focus of our meetings was two-fold. One was the topic of bipartisan legislation that has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate that has the potential for saving lives in schools throughout the country. It is the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act (H.R. 3627 and S. 1884). This legislation would provide incentives for states to enact their own laws allowing school personnel to keep and administer non-student specific epinephrine in case of an emergency. If you have had experiences with anaphylaxis at school, please email me at president@oasn.org. Our second focus of discussion was on the health needs of school children and the need for school nurse funding. These discussions were well received and laid the foundation for future dialogue.
At the end of the day, it felt good to be part of work that promotes our mission:
The Ohio Association of School Nurses promotes optimal wellness among Ohio's school children and their communities by supporting their educational success & providing leadership, education & support for the practice of school nursing.
You all are such an integral part of our mission. The work you do in our schools is of course the most important work of all. But we need your help to keep this organization going and growing.
- Volunteer to work on committees and on our Board.
- Engage nurses that you work with to join OASN.
- Come to the upcoming conference in Cleveland.This conference will only be successful if you are a part of it!
If you are already doing these things- THANK YOU!
Hope to see you in Cleveland!
Eva Garchar
|
The Ohio Association of School Nurses
Education and Research Endowment
"Get Away Weekend"
Your Chance to win a "GETAWAY WEEKEND"
This year in order to give more members an opportunity to donate to the OASN Education and Research Endowment Fund, we're offering a new type of event which allows everyone to participate.
The Marriott Renaissance Downtown in Columbus has donated a one night stay for two including breakfast not to exceed $40. The Cleveland Marriott West 150th St. is offering a two night weekend stay with breakfast for two each morning for a "Getaway Weekend" raffle. Thank you Marriott Hotels!!
Chances are $10 each or 3 for $25. The drawing will be held on Saturday, 4/21/12 at the annual conference, but the winners need NOT be present. They will be notified the following week.
Please make your check out to the OASN Education and Research Endowment Fund and return it and a completed "Your Chance Ticket" form for each chance purchased to:
Norma Nikkola, Endowment Chair
1801 Campus Drive,
Fairborn, OH 45324
|
The Ohio Association of School Nurses
Silent Auction
Sponsored by SEOASN in 2012
ALL CALL FOR SILENT AUCTION ITEMS
Please consider donating new or gently used items for
the OASN 2012 Silent Auction. Some ideas for your donations:
Clothing, jewelry, purses, kitchen and household items, books,
school nursing items...
Do you plan on donating an item or two?
Please email Silent Auction chair, Annette Scott at scotfmly@att.net
Please send the item name, description, and approximate value of your donation so she may prepare the paperwork for the Silent Auction ahead of time. Thanks!
The Silent Auction proceeds benefit
the OASN Education and Research Endowment Fund
|
Making OASN Work...
Please take a minute to look at the column on the left. That very long list includes just of few of the school nurses who make OASN what it is. This organization has so many great people who are willing to give up some (or a lot) of their free time to work toward improving the quality of school nursing, for the children and for the nurses who work so very hard throughout Ohio to make the profession one we can be so very proud of.
Thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Membership Report
March 2012 Membership Update
As you know, email is the most efficient means of getting vital information to members. To ensure that NASN/OASN has your most current member profile including your most current email address, please go to http://www.nasn.org/portal.html and click on "Member Profile", Log In and update your member profile.
Or visit the OASN Website at www.oasn.org and click on "Join OASN" near the top. This will direct you to the NASN association portal as well.
OASN membership data continues to be tracked. Only one OASN region increased their membership percentage during 2011. This winning region will be announced at the spring OASN conference . Please continue to promote the school nursing profession by continuing your membership and encouraging other nurses to join as well.
Thank you for your membership!
Submitted by OASN Membership Director, Dawn Abbott
|
|
MEMBERSHIP
Are you a member yet?
Please consider joining these great organizations to keep up on the latest Best Practice information, legal updates, latest research, and so much more.
Regional Organization - Northeast, Northwest, East, Central, Southeast, Southwest
State Organization - OASN
National Organization - NASN
They also work on your behalf to give voice to all school nurses at the state and federal level. Now, when all budgets are being reviewed for possible reductions, we need to make sure those who make the decisions know what school nurses contribute to education and to the community at large.
Hope to hear from you today!
|
|
NASN News and OASN Rep. Update
Activities of OASN's NASN Rep. Kathy Inderbitzin
From January 28-31, 2012 Board of Director Meeting in Washington DC.
This was again a filled, busy four days and I will highlight some of the new news:
- NASN finances are strong due to grant activity and increase in membership. There is an ongoing effort to increase membership, since there are 73,000 school nurses nationwide and 15,000 school nurses are members of NASN. This means that there is the potential to "capture" the remaining 58,000 as NASN members.
- NASN now has an annual giving fund in addition to the endowment fund. This fund is intended for donators that want to give money to the organization that is unrestricted in its use.
- The website has gone through some changes with more information and new ways to access the info. Go onto NASN.org and log in and explore.
- Position statements and issue briefs are continually being revised and written. The board has approved several new ones that will be on the website.
- There will be two new books released at conference, one a school nurse textbook and the other a school nurse administrator book. Watch for them.
- This is the 40th year of school health delivery by NASN. There are now 140 partners and liaisons that work with NASN.
- NASN legislative priorities for 2012:
- Student to school nurse improvement act of 2011 was reintroduced. This allows for federal assistance for local educational agencies in need of improving their ratio of students to school nurses.
- As Congress prepares for the reauthorization of IDEA, NASN would like the inclusion of specialized instructional support personnel added to the language (since school nurses are members of this group.)
- School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act was introduced (following the recent student peanut allergy death). This would allow schools to immediately treat any student for anaphylaxis with stock epinephrine ordered for the school.
- NASN conference dates June 23-26, 2012 in San Francisco. The website to book a room is now open. Future places for conference....2013 Orlando.....2014 San Antonio....2015, Philadelphia.... 2016, Atlanta.....2017, SanDiego......2018, Baltimore.
This time one of the highlighted places that we went to for board night out was the NASN offices at 8484 Georgia Ave. in Silver Springs, MD. It was interesting seeing the spaces where our organization's staff works.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Inderbitzin RN, MEd, NCSN
|
|
News from COASN
The COASN Board met 01-26-2012.
CEU dinner meeting was held 01-26-2012 at Villa Milano. Ali Cloth, PhD Clinical Research Scientist Center for Intervention Research in Schools at Ohio University spoke on Motivational Interviewing,
The following positions are open for next year: president elect, secretary, hospitality, library/historian, Membership, OASN rep, research/awards, webmaster
COASN currently has 142 members. No members are currently from Ross, Fayette, or Madison County
Congratulations to Carol Lynne O'Neil school nurse of the year!!!
|
| Report from NEOASN
January 30th 2012
President Lisa Mason
President Elect Maureen Barrett
Vice President Lori Hogue
Secretary Shelley Mountjoy
Treasurer Laurie Celik
OASN Rep Patricia Forrai-Gunter
Newsletter Susan Inscore
Membership Dawn Delmoro
Standing Committee Vacancies
Programs
PR
Legislation
Nominations
Auditing
Resolutions
We have all been working hard on preparation for the 39th OASN Conference April 19th-22nd. NE voted to sponsor the Thursday evening OASN Meet and Greet with OASN board members and the Saturday evening Yoga/Relaxation event.
The spring meeting on March 10th from 8am-12pm at Hillcrest Hospital will include our board meeting where we will nominate, vote and swear in new board members to NEOASN. Our speaker will present "Recognizing and Reporting Child and Adolescent Sexual Assault and Abuse." We are working with bare bones and we will be sending out a questionnaire to determine how we can better serve our members and how we can recruit new board members. President Elect, OASN Rep and a 2nd VP will be open. In addition to fulfill our advocacy requirement we have signed up for The March for Babies April 29th.
Respectfully submitted
Patricia Forrai-Gunter NE Rep
|
From the Ohio Department of Health...
Ohio Department of Health's School Nursing Program
& the Immunization Summary
School nurses are familiar with one of their primary roles, disease prevention. Assuring immunization compliance through effective implementation policies and educational programs is one approach in promoting wellness and disease prevention. The Ohio Department of Health's (ODH's) School Nursing program partners with the ODH Immunization program in achieving the goal to reduce and eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases among Ohio's children, adolescents and adults.
Each year school nurses look forward to the updated version of the ODH Immunization Summary for Child Care, Head Start, Pre-School and School Attendance found at the ODH Immunization Web site, http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/dis/immunization/immindex1.aspx. The School Nursing program staff realize that many schools print and mail fall school registration materials soon after the first of the year. Partnering with the Immunization program, we strive to update the summary to reflect the requirements outlined in the Director's Journal in a timely manner. On occasion there are changes made to the Director's Journal in order to bring Ohio in compliance with national immunization recommendations. These changes may delay the release of the Immunization Summary so that it correctly reflects the requirements for the upcoming school year. The Director's Journal was recently updated and signed by Theodore E. Wymyslo, M.D., Director of the Ohio Department of Health, on February 1, 2012. The updated Immunization Summary was disseminated to school nurses and posted on the ODH Web page two weeks later.
It is important that school nurses keep in mind that the Immunization Summary is just that, a summary! The Director's Journal contains the requirements, so if you ever have a question about the requirements, you may consult that Director's Journal directly. School nurses are encouraged to review the current Director's Journal found at the ODH Immunization Web site, http://www.odh.ohio.gov/ASSETS/DDFE6F33D17E491A8487092FFC24406E/djourn12.pdf. New this year, the summary consists of two pages; the first page is dedicated to "School Attendance," or grades K-12, and the second page is for "Child Care/Head Start and Pre-School Attendance." This summary is based on the Director's Journal, which is written "In re: Approved Means of Immunization Pursuant to Sections 3701.13 and 3313.67 of the Ohio Revised Code."
We encourage school nurses to review the Director's Journal and Immunization Summary for the 2012-2013 school year. The Immunization Summary notes share that vaccines should be administered according to the most current schedules published by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). These schedules can be printed and downloaded at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/default.htm. The Immunization Summary also emphasizes recommended minimal intervals for vaccines. In addition, grades 7-9 require one (1) dose of Tdap vaccine to be administered prior to entry. For 7th-9th grade: If one dose of Tdap was part of the initial series, another dose of Tdap will not be required. For students who entered 7th grade in 2010 or 2011, one dose of Td (Tetanus and diphtheria) is acceptable. Tdap can be given regardless of interval since the last tetanus- or diphtheria-toxoid containing vaccine. Note that the new Director's Journal requires the 7th grade immunization to be Tdap-students entering 7th grader with a recent Td only will not meet the requirement.
More detailed information will be shared at the 2012 ODH Regional School Nurse conferences (Newark, Sandusky and Cincinnati) held this spring. Detailed ODH conference information can be found by clicking on "Conferences and Trainings" at the ODH School Nurse Web site, http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/chss/schnurs/schnurs1.aspx.
Submitted on March 1, 2012 by Dawn Abbott, School Nurse Consultant
|
Summer 2012 Employment Opportunities for Nurses
Camp Ho Mita Koda
A residential summer camp serving children with Type 1 diabetes
Camp Ho Mita Koda, a residential summer camp serving children with Type 1 diabetes, is seeking RNs and LPNs to be a part of its medical team during the summer of 2012. Founded in 1929, Camp Ho Mita Koda is located on 72 wooded acres in Newbury, Ohio (Geauga County), just 25 miles east of Cleveland.
Camp helps children with diabetes have fun, learn to manage their diabetes, make healthy choices, take personal responsibility, build self-esteem and make life-long friendships. Camp Ho Mita Koda offers 3-day, 5-day, and 12-day overnight programs from June 17 to July 31, 2012 for children ages 6-15. Up to 64 campers attend each session.
Camp Nurses will work under the direct supervision of the Dispensary Charge to assist with the daily management of summer camp dispensary operations. Nurses will live on-site (overnight residence required) for a minimum of one full camp session (3, 5 or 12 days) to provide nursing coverage. Nurses will work as part of the medical team comprised of RNs, LPNs, nursing students and physicians.
Must be an RN or LPN with current licensure in the state of Ohio. Prefer experience working with children with diabetes and 1-2 years nursing experience. Positions are paid and include free room and meals. Accommodations are a private or semi-private furnished cabin.
To apply for a position, please call the Director of Camp and Youth Programs at 216-591-0800 or visit the Camp website at http:///www.camphomitakoda.org to download application materials and review full position descriptions.
|
|
OASN now on Facebook!
For those of you who use Facebook, consider "liking" Ohio Association of School Nurses. My goal for 2012 is to place a comment on the page when new updates are made to the website. This is an easy way for you to get notice of updates. Here is the link to the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Ohio-Association-of-School-Nurses/366292274804
Deb Stoner
Webmaster
|
The OASN Newsletter is published four times a year as a service to OASN members. Articles, questions and comments should be submitted to the editor at: newsletter@oasn.org
|
|
|
