March 21st, 2019 School Health Services Update

Dear Colleagues,

We were honored to host over 100 nurses new to School Nursing at the BU SHIELD Foundations program this week!  School nursing, as a professional specialty, is expanding in both its requirements for the practice of school nursing as well the need for more well educated nurses to meet the increasing demands of the students we serve. BU SHIELD is serving this need with its program offerings and the subject matter experts providing education and training to these new nurses.  We welcome them to our practice…and want to be sure they are all well-prepared for the 21st century role of the school nurse!

 This past Tuesday, March 19th was also National Certified Nurse’s Day for all nursing specialties.  As a School Nurse, you are an accomplished nursing professional, deserving of recognition for your contributions to health care. Certification helps open the door to leadership opportunities, increased salary, and many more benefits. This is step all School Nurses should consider toward life-long learning. Get acknowledged for the things that you do every day. Please see the NBCSN website at:

https://www.nbcsn.org/ for more information

 Don’t forget the Northeast Region School Nurse Recruitment Event tomorrow (Friday, March 22nd) at the Northern Essex Community College!  All are welcome!  See the attached flyer for more information! Please see the announcements below for several important updates!  Thank you for all you do, every day, to keep our students healthy and safe!

Mary Ann and the School Health Team

  “Managers are people who do things right, and leaders are people who do the right thing.” –Warren Bennis, business consultant 

SCHOOL NURSES IN THE NEWS!

Congratulations to Shanyn A Toulouse, MEd, BSN, RN, NCSN, Regional School Nurse Consultant for the Northeast, on the award of a $20,000 grant on behalf of Prevent Blindness, for the  Better Vision Together Community of Practice from the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health project titled Vision Screening in Young Children for the City of Haverhill Promise of Childrens Vision Team!  Shanyn has led the efforts for better vision screening and to improve children’s vision and eye health and care for all children statewide!   We are so proud of Shanyn and the work she and her  team is doing to improve children’s vision!

2019 IMMUNIZATION UPDATES REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

VIEW THE TRAINING CALENDAR AND REGISTER FOR AN IN-PERSON TRAINING EVENT OR A WEBINAR HERE:

Immunization Updates 2019 Training Calendar

Topics will include:

  • MIIS updates, including ways to improve data quality and bi-directionality
  • VFC compliance/vaccine storage and handling (meets the annual VFC training requirement)
  • Updates to the 2019 childhood and adult immunization schedules
  • School immunization data
  • Current trends in the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases

Please note the following for the in-person session at the State Lab in Jamaica Plain:

  • There is NO PARKING available at the Jamaica Plain State Lab facility.
  • The cafeteria is temporarily closed, there will be no food or drink available for purchase- attendees are welcome to bring their own.
  • There will be security screening, please bring as few personal items as possible.

Vaccine Confidence Project
Join us for updates on Vaccine Confidence in Massachusetts, and hear from other providers and advocates.
All are welcome!

 

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: OPEN TO ALL SCHOOL HEALTH PERSONNEL
Happy Social Work Month! In honor of social work month we would like to recognize the BU SSW alumnus who had the vision to found the Social Work in Education Program and has supported it the past few years. We also want to recognize the invaluable work you do as social workers by offering a 25% discount with the discount code SSWMONTH at checkout on the following seminars:

March 25th – Postvention: Responding to Schools and Communities Following Adolescent Suicide

March 29th – Who Decides? Using Shared Decision Making to Effectively Engage Adolescents and Young Adults in Treatment Services and Supports

 

April 2nd – Creating safe spaces for adolescents in school settings and Supports

 

April 9th – The Special Education Process (IEP’s and other handy dandy information)

REGISTRATION FOR APRIL 4TH SCHOOL-BASED MEDICAID PROGRAM TRAINING RELATED TO REIMBURSABLE SERVICES OPEN!
As previously announced in an email on March 7th, MassHealth, in conjunction with UMass Medical School, will offer a training to share critical information related to Reimbursable Services billed through interim claiming and moments marked as “in accordance with program guidelines” in the Random Moment Time Study.  The training will build upon information shared in the recently published “Direct Service Interim Claiming Guide” available online at www.mass.gov/info-details/sbmp-resource-center.

We are now registering for the April 4thtraining. There will be 2 sessions, morning and afternoon, as well as a livestream option. Please follow the link included below to register for a session. One submission should be made per school district / vendor by: 03/22/2019. Registration is required for those attending on-site and via livestream. Due to limited seating capacity at UMass, we can only accommodate one LEA/vendor employee in attendance on-site. We are actively exploring alternative locations for future trainings  to accommodate more in-person participants. Thank you for your patience and understanding of our current capacity constraints. Information about connecting to the livestream, along with a participant ID and passcode and any training materials will be sent out to confirm livestream participant registrations several days prior to the training date.  

Registration Link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QJJHP6Y   Further details can be found on the registration form.

AAA TRAFFIC SAFETY POSTER & VIDEO CONTEST 

Students in grades K-12 from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island can enter.

To be eligible, all poster and video entries must be postmarked by April 5, 2019.

Poster entries must follow these guidelines to be considered:

  • Size may not exceed 11″ x 17″
  • The theme must adhere to the proper grade level category
  • Posters must be submitted by mail

Video entries must follow these guidelines to be considered:

  • Videos can only be accepted from students in grades 9-12
  • Entries must be submitted in .mpg, .avi or .mp4 format and not exceed 20MB
  • Submissions cannot be longer than 60 seconds in length
  • Videos can be submitted either by mail on a flash drive or disc, or emailed to: postercontest@aaanortheast.com

Poster entries will be judged on a state-by-state basis. A first- ($300), second- ($200) and third-place ($100) poster winner will be selected from each of the three grade levels for each of the five states — for a total of nine poster winners per state. All first-place entries in each grade level (K-4, 5-8 and 9-12) from the five states will then be eligible for an additional $1,000 grand prize.

Online voting for the grand prize will take place between April 22–30. AAA members and the public are eligible to vote, but only one vote per person, per day will be allowed.

Contest winners will be announced on May 10, 2019.

How to Enter Grades K-12 can submit a hand-drawn or digitally created poster, no larger than 11” x 17”, vertical or horizontal.

Students in grades 9-12 also have the option to submit a short video, not more than 60 seconds in length.

All entries must focus on a theme from the appropriate category below:

Grades K-4:

Pedestrian & child passenger safety

  • Play away from traffic
  • Booster seat use
  • School bus safety
  • Getting to school safely

Grades 5-8:

Passenger,

pedestrian & bike safety

  • Buckle up/seat belt use
  • Don’t distract the driver
  • Bike safety
  • Walking to school
  • Be aware of traffic
  • Obey the AAA School Safety Patrol/crossing guards

Grades 9-12:

Safe driving practices

  • Distracted driving
  • Texting or cellphone use
  • Speeding/aggressive driving
  • Alcohol and/or drug awareness
  • Drowsy driving

All entries must be postmarked mailed to the following address:

AAA Northeast Traffic Safety

1415 Kellum Place

Garden City, NY 11530

Complete rules can be found at AAA.com/PosterContest. Attached is the contest flyer.

REGIONAL CONSULTANT CONTACT INFORMATION:

EOHHS Region NAME OFFICE PHONE CELL PHONE EMAIL
State Epidemiologist 617-983-6800 For Calls Related to Infectious Disease and Immunizations ONLY.
Central Cynthia Tomlin 978-567-6250, ext. 10142 978-875-2009 lwaingortin@hudson.k12.ma.us  cltomlin@hudson.k12.ma.us
Metrowest Jill Connolly 781-848-4000, ext. 7841 781-603-7697 jill.connolly@braintreeschools.org
Northeast Shanyn Toulouse 978-420-1919 978-761-2307 shanyn.toulouse@haverhill-ps.org
Southeast Ann Linehan 508-580-7363 annlinehan@bpsma.org
West Diane Colucci 413-750-2511 colucci-hechtd@springfieldpublicschools.com

Mary Ann Gapinski, MSN, RN, NCSN

Director of School Health Services

MA Department of Public Health

250 Washington Street – 5th Floor

Boston, MA  02108

mary.gapinski@state.ma.us

Website: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/school-health-services