Health Services - brought to you by Pierce School Nurse Mary D'Amore!

There has been a recent outbreak of a gastro-intestinal illness in the Greater Boston area.

To be proactive the following control measures are recommended by the Brookline Health Department and School Health Services:
  • DO NOT send your child to school or go to work if sick with symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, stomach ache or diarrhea.
  • Students may not return to school until *72 hours after their symptoms have stopped. (NOT THE REGULAR 24 HOURS.)
  • All students and parents should wash their hands with warm soapy water or use hand sanitizers as soon as possible on entering the school building.
  • Students should wash their hands before eating and after toileting.
  • Any student that becomes sick in school will be sent home.
  • Any ill student should not attend any extra-curricular activities, including sports.
  • If your child is ill and unable to keep down fluids, call your PCP for recommendations about fluid replacement.
  • If any student or members of their household becomes sick with symptoms mentioned above, please call the school nurse and report symptoms.

(*72 hours recommended by Public Health Officials)

Looks like a great time to review hand washing

Nothing in your mouth except for food and the utensils you eat or drink with, cough/sneeze etiquette, frequently wiping down surfaces and cleaning commonly used items, minimizing bare-handed contact with ready to eat foods (i.e. using bare hand to get a handful of popcorn from party bowl that many people are reaching into), and getting out the hand sanitizer again!!!   Below is a list of websites that address hand washing.  Please encourage students to wash their hands, or use a squirt of hand sanitizer when they first arrive to school. 

http://www.mass.gov/handwashing
http://www.health.state.mn.us/handhygiene/index.html
http://food.unl.edu/web/safety/kidshandwashingmaterials
http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing
http://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene
http;//tiny.cc/suyzp
http://www.scrubclub.org 

Update on Mandated Screening Programs

The MA Dept of Public Health mandates the following screening programs for all students attending
school in the Commonwealth. Hearing and Vision screening in grade K-6 is near completion.

Heights/Weights/BMIs will be initiated in Jan/Feb for Gr.1,4,7,10 in collaboration with the Physical Education Department. Letters will be sent home with results to all families.