Health
Pembroke Hill is fortunate to have two school nurses who job share: Mary Grimaldi and Kim Doran. While their office is located in the Mellon Building, room 203, on the Wornall campus, they provide services for students as well as faculty and staff on both campuses. Our nurses provide health appraisals, medication administration, health education and first aid.
Mary and Kim hope that you will use them as a medical resource. They are happy to answer any questions regarding illness, growth and development, as well as offer parenting tips. Parents may contact the nurses at 816-936-1351 or e-mail nurse@pembrokehill.org.
H1N1 Flu Info
H1N1 Flu Vaccine Information
According to Pembroke Hill School nurses, the health departments in
Missouri, at this time, are not planning to make the H1N1 flu
vaccinations available for schools. However, Pembroke Hill has
indicated to the Kansas City, Mo., Health Department that if vaccines
become available, our school is interested in providing them to our
students.
There are some health departments in the area that
are holding public flu clinics as announced in the media.
Additionally, some pediatricians' offices are also getting the
vaccinations, but not all of them.
Our nurses recommend that
parents contact their pediatricians' offices to see if they have the
vaccination. Parents should also monitor the local news to learn of
any developments in the vaccination distribution plan in Missouri.
Parents may also contact the area's health departments:
Kansas City, Mo. - www.kcmo.org/health (816) 513-6008
Johnson County, Kan. - health.jocogov.org (913) 826-1263
Wyandotte County, Kan. - wycokck.org (913) 573-8855
If you have any questions, contact our nurses at nurse@pembrokehill.org.
Prevention Suggestions
The only way the swine flu virus can enter the body is
through the nose and mouth. It may not be possible to prevent all contact with
H1N1 but there are some simple steps that you can do that could prevent the
virus from making you ill. While you are still healthy and not showing any
symptoms of H1N1 infection do the following…
- Frequent
hand-washing. Always wash hands before touching food or your face.
- “Hands-off-the-face”
approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of your face.
- Gargle
twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt).
H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection for symptoms to appear. Simple
gargling prevents the virus from growing/spreading. In a way, gargling
with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu
has on an infected one.
- Similar
to step 3, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm
salt water. To do this you could use a Neti pot or sinus rinse (purchased
at most drug stores for under $15). Blowing the nose hard once a day and
swabbing both nostrils with cotton swabs dipped in warm salt water is also
very effective.
- Boost
your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (especially
citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make
sure that they also have Zinc to boost its absorption.
- Drink
as much warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc.) as you can. Drinking warm liquids
has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash
the virus down the throat to the stomach where it cannot survive.
Don’t underestimate these simple,
inexpensive and powerful preventative steps.
Information from a lecture
given by Dr. Vinay Goyal on the origins and precautions of H1N1 in August of
2009.
For information regarding Pembroke Hill's H1N1 flu procedures, click here.
Healthy School Environment
We ask that all school community members follow these basic guidelines to ensure a healthy school environment.
- Keep children home until they are fever free without medications for 24 hours. This reduces sharing germs, and it gives children extra time to rest and fight off the illness.
- Keep children home if they have had vomiting or diarrhea. Usually, they feel physically drained if they have had these symptoms. They may want to return to school when they are sympton-free after 12 hours. Please consider keeping them home an extra day to regain their strength.
- Provide your children with a healthy breakfast! Breakfast is the most important meal for your children. Children who are hungry stop paying attention in class. They complain of stomach ache, headache and feeling tired. This is easily fixed by encouraging them to eat breakfast.
- Make sure your children get adequate rest. The two biggest favors you can do for your children are to feed them breakfast and put them to bed at a reasonable time. Rest and nutrition go hand in hand.
