St
Joseph School follows all of the health guidelines
of the Penn-Delco School District as per their
website:
Families
must bring a copy of each child's immunizations with
you at the time of registration. The grade level
appropriate health exam forms will be given to you
at registration. The following immunizations are
required for attendance at any
school in Pennsylvania. Proof of immunization
is required prior to attendance in school.
-
4 doses of
diphtheria/tetanus vaccine DPT or DT (one
given after 4th birthday
-
3 oral or
injected doses of polio vaccine
-
2 doses of
measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) (first
vaccine after age 12 months)
-
3 doses of
Hepatitis B, properly spaced
-
Chicken pox
immunity- prrof of vaccination or a signed
statement from the parent or physician is
acceptable proof of having had the disease.
The
school nurse maintains an official Pennsylvania
immunization record for each student. When your
child receives additional immunizations, please send
the information to the school nurse so your child's
record may be updated.
Free
or low cost immunizations are available in Delaware
County at the following locations:
-
Pennsylvania
Department of Health- 151 W. Fifth St.,
Chester, PA 610-447-3250
-
Chespenn Health
Services-619 Welsh Street, Chester
610-872-6131
OR
Community Hospital, Chester 610 859-2059
-
West End Medical
Center- 2621 Ninth Street, Chester
610-494-7666
HEALTH
SCREENINGS
Pennsylvania law requires health screenings to be
conducted in specific grades. The screenings are
done by the school nurses.
Height and Weight
Vision
-
checked
annually, in Kindergarten through grade 8
-
You may request
a vision screening at any time if you
suspect that your child may have a problem.
Hearing
-
checked in
Kindergarten and grades 1,2,3 and 7
-
You may request
a hearing screening at any time if you
suspect that your child may have a problem
Scoliosis
Physical Exam
It is
recommended that this exam be performed by your
private physician who is more familiar with your
child's medical history. The required physical exam
form can be obtained from your child's school nurse
or downloaded below. The private exam may be done
within one year from the start of the school year.
Example: The school year
started September 2008, therefore, the exam date can
be as early as September, 2007.
http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/schoolhealth/PrivatePhysicianForm.pdf
Dental Exam
It is
recommended that this exam be performed by your
private dentist. The required dental form can be
obtained from your child's school nurse or
downloaded below. The private exam may be within
one year from the start of the school year.
http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/schoolhealth/PAprivatedentalform.pdf
Students
who do not return a completed private physical or
dental exam form will be scheduled with the school
doctor or dentist. Parents will receive ample
notification of exam dates. Parental consent is
required for your child to receive a school exam.
What does a referral mean?
If you
receive a referral form after any school screening,
it means that the screening detected a possible
problem and further evaluation by a professional
health care provider is recommended. The form is to
be completed by your private physician, dentist or
eye doctor and returned to the school nurse. As
always, if you have any question, contact the school
nurse.
Medication Policy-The board policy
concerning use of medications can be viewed via the
link at the bottom of this page. Please follow the
guidelines if your child must take medication during
the school day.
ILLNESS:
KEEPING YOUR CHILD HOME FROM SCHOOL
Upon
occasion, it is necessary for your child to remain
home due to an illness. The following guidelines
should be followed when determining whether to keep
your child home:
-
Your child
should not be sent to school hoping that he
or she will feel better at arriving.
-
Your child
should be kept home following a nighttime
bout of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and
watched for further symptoms.
-
Your child
should remain home if he/she has had a
temperature for 24 hours before returning to
school.
-
Do not send your
child to school if he/she is taking
prescription pain medication.
COMMUNICABLE
DISEASES
Parents
often ask about sending their child to school with a
communicable disease. Pennsylvania Department of
Health offers the following guidelines:
-
Pink Eye: 24
hours after initiation of treatment
-
Strep Throat,
Scarlet Fever: 24 hours after initiation of
treatment
-
Lice: Until
treated with a pediculocidal agent. Students
who have been excluded must be checked by
the School Nurse and found to be free of
lice eggs before entering the building.
There is an informational sheet that can be
downloaded at the bottom of this page
regarding head lice.
-
Chicken Pox: Six
days from the outbreak of the last crop of
blisters with all pock marks dried
-
Impetigo,
Scabies and Ringworm: Until judged non-
infectious by the physician
HOW CAN YOU
DETERMINE IF YOUR CHILD IS OVERWEIGHT?
There is
an objective measure to use to tell if your child is
overweight and at risk for health and nutritional
disorders. This is the BMI, or
Body Mass Index. A BMI is
not a measure of percent body fat but an expression
of relationships of a person's weight to his or her
height. Standard charts, based on a
children's age and gender similar to those used in
doctor's offices to plot children's growth, are used
to plot the BMI. This plot allows one to get a
percentile that indicates whether a child is
underweight, normal weight , at risk for overweight
or overweight.
Exactly
how to determine and plot your child's BMI
percentile to assess his or her level of health risk
for over or under weight can be found on the Centers
for Disease Control site:
www.cdc.gov. Your school nurse will also
provide you with a yearly calculation of your
child's BMI.
*Note
that the procedures for determining a child's BMI
differs from those for adults and require use of
appropriate charts based on age and gender. BMI
calculations for children are assessed based on a
percentile for age and BMI.
|
Underweight |
BMI for age
< 5th percentile |
| Normal
weight |
BMI
for age from 5th percentile to <85th
percentile |
| At
risk of overweight |
BMI for age
85th percentile to <95th percentile |
| Overweight |
BMI for age
>95th percentile |
Please see attached files below for information
about:
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