I write this letter to support the health personnel in the Santa Barbara School districts who have received a reduction-in-force notice (RIF). As a health professional familiar with what school nurses do, I ask:
Who will clean up the vomit of an ill student?
Who will perform the catheterization of a wheelchair bound student?
Who will clarify with parents the necessary immunizations needed to enter school?
Who will calm a student having a panic attack?
Who will attend a student having a seizure and administer life-saving medication?
Who will consult with public health officials and parents on how to quell a lice outbreak?
Who will bandage a playground wound?
Who will see that an asthmatic child experiencing an attack is appropriately cared for?
Already impacted school administrators or teachers? No.
The student nurse ratio of Santa Barbara School districts currently is dreadfully below that recommended by the California PTA. For our children’s health, do the right thing and rescind the RIFs of those hardworking health workers.
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Comments
I know one of the Santa Barbara School District nurses, and I won't embarrass her by mentioning her name, but she is one of the most dedicated and over-worked people that I know. She is always trying to think of an "angle" to improve services, or "find" money. She carries three cell phones with her at all times, and only one is her personal phone. This woman is an RN, who is also blessed with administrative skills, and could earn a much larger salary working for Cottage Health Systems, or some other large medical organization, but she has chosen to dedicate herself to the SB School District while they have decimated her budget, taken away most of her resources, and now, are threatening to take away her job.
It may be a blessing for my friend, because the stress of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear for too many years now has taken its toll on her health. She has sacrificed her own health for the kids in the District who need her. She has been a salaried employee, and easily worked more than 60 hours per week.
To my friend, I say "good riddance" to an employer who does not appreciate what you have done for them, but I know that is not what you are concerned about. You are concerned for the KIDS who, as Ms. Brechwald explains, are going to be left "holding the bag" (in some cases, a colostomy bag), and the District is going to find that the liability that they will incur will be greater than any amount they ever paid to you.
Gandalf47 (anonymous profile)
May 12, 2011 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We have subsidies for oil companies and the uber rich. We have supervisors, board members and presidents that drive Mercedes and BMW's. We cannot afford nurses for our school children.
spacey (anonymous profile)
May 13, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)