|
View this as a webpage
September 2023
Welcome to the new school year!
Staff Introductions
This School Health Newsletter is developed by Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) School Health Coordinators, Denise Herrmann and Heather Hedin. We would like to take this time to introduce ourselves and the other members of our team.
Together Denise and Heather provide technical assistance and consultation to school nurses and leaders, along with education and training on various school health and school nursing topics. They are responsible for developing and maintaining the MDH School Health Services website, leading monthly school health webinars for school nurses and health services staff and supporting the School Health Services Basecamp sharing platform and this newsletter.
|
 |
|
Denise Herrmann has her Doctorate in Nursing Practice and is a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specializing in children with special health needs. Her career spans over 40 years, with 23 years as school nurse and pediatric nurse practitioner, providing care to students of all ages and abilities. Denise joined MDH in June 2019 and in the role of State School Health Consultant since April 2020. |
 |
|
Heather Hedin has her Master of Science in Nursing Education. Heather’s nursing career expands 12 years including being an Army nurse, clinic nurse, and most recently, a Licensed School Nurse for the last six years. Heather also has her national certification as a school nurse. She joined MDH in March 2022 as State School Health Consultant. |
 |
|
Jen Harvey has her MPH in maternal-child health and a MS in Nursing and is a Certified Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner specializing in Adolescent Health Care. She has been a nurse for 23 years working in local public health, adolescent health clinics, private practice, and most recently as a licensed school nurse. Jen was at MDH from 2011-15 as the Women’s Health Consultant and returned to MDH in February 2023 as the Adolescent Health Consultant. Learn more about Adolescent Health Resources. |
 |
|
Julie Neitzel Carr is the supervisor of the newly formed Adolescent and School Health Unit. She has worked on behalf of adolescents at MDH for the past 11 years in different roles. Her role is to support and manage adolescent health programming at MDH including School Nursing, School-Based Health Centers, and Adolescent Health. She believes that adolescenthood is a dynamic time of growth and opportunity for young people and is honored to play a role in helping young people to thrive. Learn more about School Based Health Centers. |
About the School Health Newsletter
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide information on a wide variety of programs and services related to school health. We attempt to coordinate messaging with other MDH divisions such as Infectious Disease Prevention Epidemiology, Prevention and Control (IDEPC), Child and Teen Checkups, MDH asthma programs and many others.
Our audience include school nurses, school health services staff, local public health, school leaders and administrators from public, charter, tribal and private schools and staff from community organizations or state agencies who work, support, or have interest in school health services.
Starting this school year (23-24) the School Health Newsletter will be published three times during the school year in the fall, winter, and spring. In addition, subscribers may receive additional announcements or bulletins from other MDH divisions when they have information, material, announcements, or resources for school health services.
During the pandemic response, the school health newsletter was sporadically published as information needed to be much timelier. MDH at that time started using School Health Services Basecamp to communicate timely COVID-19 updates for school nurses. Basecamp is a project management and communication platform that requires a special login.
There are three main purposes/functions of Basecamp:
-
Message Board allows MDH School Health Consultants to provide timely messages around many relevant topics, especially upcoming professional development (MDH, MDE, state, and national offerings). Denise and Health also provide technical assistance and consultation to questions posted by members. Participants can pose questions to colleagues, offer local resources, and supports.
-
Docs & Files allows MDH School Health Consultants to host documents related to school health services and participants to share examples of tools they use in school health.
-
Schedule allows MDH School Health Consultants to post webinar and open office hours dates/times and links and make last minute changes as needed.
 |
The primary audience for Basecamp is school nurses and staff working specifically in school health services, including local public health and tribal health staff who provide school health support and services. There are some smaller schools who do not have health staff but who have staff that support student health who also participate. Basecamp allows for and often is very detailed around school nursing services.
What does this mean?
If you are a school nurse, school health staff, local or tribal health nurse providing school nursing services you may also want to consider joining Basecamp in addition to the School Health Newsletter by emailing health.school.health@state.mn.us. We will need your name, credentials, school/agency you work with and your work email to enroll you in Basecamp.
The School Health Team hosts a monthly webinar on the third Wednesday of each month from 2-3:00 p.m. staring September 20, 2023. All school health service personnel are invited to participate. There is no pre-registration. These webinars provide a variety of information including what’s new in school health and school nursing services from MDH or MDE, upcoming events, trainings or education from state agencies or national organizations, and new resources, tools, or articles from the literature like the MMWR or AAP. Some webinars may cover material specific to that point in time, such as completing the School Annual Immunization Report.
The link for the 2023-24 school year is the same each month.
Monthly Webinar Information
- Third Wednesday of the month
- 2-3:00 p.m.
Join by Webex:
Join by video system:
- Dial 24856230826@minnesota.webex.com.
- You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.
Join by phone:
- +1-415-655-0003 United States Toll
- 1-855-282-6330 United States Toll Free
- Access code: 248 562 30826
MDH School Health team has updated the School Health Services website with information, resources and a School Toolkit for schools to help implement the requirement to maintain a supply of opiate antagonist medication in schools, Naloxone Administration in School Settings.
Section 121A.212 - [Effective 1/1/2024] ACCESS TO MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS
A school district or charter school must provide students with access to menstrual products at no charge. The products must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12 according to a plan developed by the school district. For purposes of this section, "menstrual products" means pads, tampons, or other similar products used in connection with the menstrual cycle.
Chapter 55 – MN Laws
There have been changes made for reporting COVID-19 and Influenza Like Illness (ILI), and Flu for the upcoming school year. MDH website has been updated along with resources for school. There is also a new reporting tool for Varicella and Pertussis.
The rates for child and adolescent immunizations have decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic but with all the efforts of health care and public health partners, we are on our way to increasing our immunization rates to near pre-pandemic rates.
However, school immunization data shows there are still many students missing all the required vaccines for school entry.
- School nurses play an important role in ensuring children are getting caught up on vaccines they need.
- Continue to educate parents and school staff about the importance of immunizations in protecting the health of students and preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the school setting.
- Ensure your school completes the Annual Immunization Status report for students by December 1 each year.
Use these resources to educate parents and patients about the benefits of vaccination.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health has released Back-to-School 2023: Healthy Youth, Successful Futures. The site provides resources to promote student well-being, relationships with caring adults, and school connectedness. Also available are social media posts, resources on how to support young people, and pictures and infographics to help support the message. These back-to-school resources can be found at Back-to-School 2023: Healthy Youth, Successful Futures| DASH | CDC
|
|
