High school H1N1 student packets going home today
11-20-09
We have scheduled high school student H1N1 flu vaccine clinics for
December.
Those packets are going home with students today.
They should be returned before Thanksgiving Break.
NPES flu clinic rescheduled
New Providence Elementary School’s H1N1 or swine
flu vaccine clinic will take place on Friday, November 13.
NPES flu clinic delayed
New Providence Elementary School was scheduled to have an H1N1 or swine
flu vaccine clinic on Tuesday, November 10.
H1N1 vaccine shortages have caused DHEC to postpone that school clinic
as these school clinics are totally dependent on the availability of the
vaccine.
How have we done so far?
SCHOOL
STUDENTS
VACCINES GIVEN
CSES
830
377
CSMS
719
263
FPES
515
238
GES
663
349
GHS
955
GMS
704
GPS
813
412
LES
783
336
LHS
2,763
LIS
291
135
LMES
1,072
538
LMS
1,183
540
MES
916
435
NPES
547
326
OGES
685
317
PES
633
326
PHS
789
PHES
980
499
PHMS
1,078
450
PMS
622
215
RBES
626
285
SGES
830
400
WKES
799
343
WKHS
1,976
WKMS
820
336
H1N1 vaccine shortage could delay school clinics
scheduled for November 9–13
Lexington One administrators announced clinics one week at a time because we
knew that it was possible that a shortage of the H1N1 vaccine could cause us to
postpone or cancel school clinics.
We learned today that there is indeed a shortage and that we may have to
reschedule/postpone school clinics scheduled for next week. As you remember,
these school clinics are totally dependent on the availability of the H1N1
vaccine.
Thank you for being patient with us as we go through this process. Please
remember that this is a district-wide effort. We are all working together to
protect the health and safety of our students.
Lexington One begins H1N1 flu clinics
Lexington County School District One begins administering
the H1N1 flu vaccines to its students and staff Monday, November 2.
“Lexington One’s main objective is to vaccinate as many children as possible to prevent
the spread of the H1N1 virus in our community,” said Dr. Karen Woodward,
superintendent.
District officials will
consider the clinics a success if 30 percent of the total student population
at each school receives a vaccination. Parental permission rates at schools
giving the shots Monday and Tuesday exceed the district’s goal. Some schools
expect a vaccination rate of more than 50 percent.
The free shots begin in the
Lexington One elementary schools with nine of the district’s 13 elementary
schools completing the initial vaccinations by the end of the week. Clinics
will continue in the district’s other schools as supply allows with a goal
to complete the first round of clinics in 14 week days. The second round of
Lexington One clinics for students 10 years old and younger will be in
December, as those students need two shots spaced 30 days apart.
Important information about Lexington One and DHEC
student H1N1 flu clinics
As you know we’ve seen flu and flu-like illnesses in our school all year.
We continue to work closely with the South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control to protect our students and our staff from the flu.
As part of that effort we will begin holding free H1N1 flu clinics in our
district. These clinics are for the administration of the Novel H1N1 flu (swine flu)
vaccine not the seasonal flu vaccine. Students are not required to be vaccinated against the
flu in order to attend school. However, medical experts say that vaccination
is the best way to protect against the flu.
At these H1N1 flu clinics, we can vaccinate:
students with approved parent permission forms,
nurses, health room assistants, OT/PT, speech therapists and other
classroom staff who perform nursing tasks,
staff under the age of 25 (the target group
is 6 months to 24 years),
pregnant staff (with doctor’s order),
staff who live with infants younger than 6 months of age, and
other staff 25 to 64 years old with certain chronic medical conditions
or a weakened immune system (with doctor’s order).
We will hold clinics at two schools every day, during the school day, for a
little more than two weeks. If we get 30 percent of our students vaccinated,
we will consider these clinics successful.
There will be two teams of folks vaccinating. Each team will do one clinic a
day.
Since children under 10 will need two shots spaced 30 days apart, we will
hold another round of clinics in 30 days. Obviously then, elementary schools
have to be first.
Today, the first schools involved in the clinics are sending home a packet
of information to every student. The packet includes a letter to the parent
from us, a letter from DHEC with a Parental Consent for H1N1 Vaccination
form on the back and a 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine fact sheet provided by
DHEC. The fact sheet answers some of the most common questions about H1N1
itself and about the vaccine.
We start these clinics on Monday, Nov. 2.
List of school clinics for the week of November 2–6, 2009
Monday, November 2: Forts Pond Elementary and Pelion Elementary
Tuesday, November 3: Gilbert Elementary and Gilbert Primary
Wednesday, November 4: Carolina Springs Elementary and Oak Grove Elementary
Thursday, November 5: Lexington Elementary and White Knoll Elementary
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site says that the H1N1
Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A
influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. Although people do not
normally get swine flu, human infections can and do happen.
The CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious
and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how
easily the virus spreads between people.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of swine flu are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and
include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.
Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu.
What is Lexington One doing about threat of swine
flu?
Lexington County School District One
emphasizes health, hygiene and safety and includes age-appropriate information
concerning the safe health practices that prevent the spread of communicable
diseases.
We
work closely with the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and
their Regional Epi Nurse and follow DHEC’s guidelines concerning all
communicable diseases.
Each Lexington One school has a school nurse. As part of their job,
school nurses assess students with flu-like symptoms and refer them
for further testing, if necessary, and in accordance with district
and DHEC guidelines.
School Nurses and teachers always emphasize the importance of frequent hand
washing, good hand washing technique and good cough technique to reduce the
spread of communicable diseases.
Given
the general concerns about flu, school nurses will stress hygiene measures
even more.
What can you do?
In
order to keep your child well, remind him to wash his hands often.
Tell
your child not to share his food, drink or eating utensils with others.
Be
sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and drinks plenty of fluids
(especially ones with Vitamin C).
Your
child should eat breakfast and eat a protein-enriched lunch.
If
your child complains that he doesn’t feel well, please check his temperature
before sending him to school.
Please keep your child at home if he has vomited or had diarrhea (two or more
times in the last 24 hours), has an undiagnosed rash or has a fever of 100
degrees or more before you give him Tylenol, Advil, Motrin or some other
appropriate fever reducing medication.
Never give aspirin to children or teenagers who have flu-like symptoms and
particularly fever without first speaking to your doctor. Giving aspirin to
children and teenagers who have the flu can cause a rare but serious illness
called Reye’s syndrome.
Your
child should not return to school until he has been fever free without the help
of Tylenol or another product for 24 hours, has not vomited within 24 hours and
has had no diarrhea within 24 hours.
Finally, we know how important your children are to you. Make sure that your
child’s school has your current emergency telephone numbers. In some cases, our
nurses are having trouble reaching a parent/guardian. Obviously, you want to
know when your child is sick so that you can pick him up and don’t want your
sick child spending hours in the health room because we can’t reach you.
As we expected we eventually would, we now have had a student
diagnosed with the novel influenza A (H1N1), formerly referred to as
the swine flu.
Our student has been treated and will remain at home until his/her
doctor clears his/her return. Fortunately, the H1N1 flu is proving
to be much less serious now than everyone originally thought, and we
do not believe your child is at any significantly increased risk.
DHEC tells us that students’ casual contact with an infected person,
such as classroom contact, does not increase their risk
significantly. They also do not recommend closing school or
canceling events.
DHEC tells us that preventive medicine is not recommended for the
entire school or even the student’s classmates. Children who have
been in close contact with the infected student do not put
classmates at risk of infection.
If your child is sick with flu-like symptoms (temperature of 100
degrees or more, sore throat, cough), please keep him home and call
your school’s nurse or attendance clerk and let them know. DHEC is
asking that we track all possible cases of flu-like illnesses.
Your child should not return to school until he has been fever free
without the help of Tylenol or another product for 24 hours.
When your child does come back to school, he should go by the school
nurse’s office and have his temperature checked before he goes to
his classroom.
