Wisconsin: Walker budget cuts 21 school nurses for Milwaukee Schools

[Scuba]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/122428239.html

<snip>

But Stone and 20 other school nurses won't be in Milwaukee Public Schools next year if the district's proposed budget is approved June 7 and left unmodified this fall. Gov. Scott Walker eliminated a $1.5 million state grant in the state biennial budget that supported the 21 full-time nurse positions, and the Milwaukee School Board has not proposed bringing back those positions with district funds.

The disappearing school nurse is not solely an MPS problem - districts elsewhere have sliced school nursing positions to save money - but it's concerning to some because the largely low-income and minority students have serious health issues, such as high rates of asthma and diabetes. Generally, the children have less access to quality health care than their higher-income peers, which makes access to a health care professional in the school all that much more important, supporters say.

Ann Riojas, nurse supervisor in MPS and the president of the Wisconsin Association of School Nurses, said the rise in diabetes among MPS children is one reason the need for nurses has increased. In 2001, MPS had 21 students out of about 100,000 enrolled who needed lunchtime care for diabetes, Riojas said. Today the district has 110 students out of about 86,000 who need lunchtime care for diabetes.

<end snip>


Walker must agree with Jim DeMint (POS-SC) that "healthcare is a priviledge" and if the poor kids in Milwaukee don't get any, it's their own fault for being born poor.

[midnight]

1. K&R

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Walker's opening up those school districts to civil liability when

children get sick, hurt or worse and there's no nurse to intervene.

[Ilsa]

3. A parent will be forced to help monitor the diabetic child at school.

Making their ppsition at work more tenuous, usually.

Having a nurse at school is great, but I've also seen it abused by parents who tell their kids to see the nurse if they don't want to take care of their own kids. Altogether, though, school nurses save the districts money by having healthy kids remain in class while sending the sick ones home. Getting rid of school nurses can be penny-wise, pound-foolish.

[trotsky]

6. "Getting rid of school nurses can be penny-wise, pound-foolish."

That's the Republican method, though. Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Of course Repubs like Walker ALSO want to sabotage things like public schools anyway, so they see it as an eventual win.

[WillParkinson]

4. I think it's fair to say...

The more he speaks the more I hate him.

[madrchsod]

5. so going after women`s ability to get free pap smears now...

he`s going after the kids health care issues in school?

wow! what a guy! the people who voted for this guy must be really proud of themselves.

[mopinko]

7. this may run him afoul of federal laws. kids with iep's

that require medication during the day, etc, are protected by federal law.

[starroute]

8. Aren't there also liability issues?

I remember once in high school I scraped the back of my heel on a stair and it was a little bloody -- so the teacher sent me down to the nurse's office, where I sat around for 20 minutes waiting for some methiolate and a bandaid.

It seemed like much ado about nothing at the time -- but the point is that teachers were not allowed to so much as hand out a bandaid. So does this mean that if a kid in one of those schools with no nurse gets a bloody heel, they're just going to have to limp around bleeding for the rest of the day? Or would they be sent home early and ordered to seek medical care, for fear that they might sue the school if the cut get infected?

[Ilsa]

10. There are minor things a teacher can treat without "practicing medicine",

and if they notify the parents/guardian in a timely manner, a lawsuit won't go anywhere.

I'm more concerned about a teacher who might attempt to go beyond the scope of a bandaid, such as administering a medication without being trained and certified to do so. They could have charges filed against them for attempting to practice professional nursing, etc, depending on the situation.

[Snoutport]

9. they will probably hire a nurse from an agency (profit for the agency CEO!)

and our tax dollars will pay for some CEO to go on vacations. The schools will get one nurse, her job will be to train teachers and secretaries and they will work under her license.

We don't have a nurse either even though we have very fragile students. She trains us and then floats between a bunch of different schools.

[Ilsa]

11. Unfortunately, in poorer neighborhoods, the school nurse's office is expected to be

a medical clinic. Parents will delay seeking medical care for their child all weekend until Monday morning, when they instruct their child, "If you still feel bad, go see the nurse.". Then they get frustrated when the nurse calls them and tells them that the nurse's office cannot administer medications to their child, can't treat a specific injury, etc.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. Times have changed.

My great aunt was a school nurse and she had a Master's Degree from Yale University Nursing School. She was the smartest person in my family.

Somebody is gonna get sued when a kid dies from untreated diabetes. I can see this one coming without a lot of special training.

I am a lawyer but I do not play one on TV. :D