April 24, 2017

Dear Colleagues,

For those that are just returning from a Spring break, welcome back to the final stretch of the school year!  There are not many more weeks remaining for us to finish the tremendous work we began this past Fall. 

I’m excited to announce that the journal article, Evaluation of Implementation of Massachusetts Sports Concussion Regulations, by Jonathan Howland, Holly Hackman, Allyssa Taylor, Linda Brown, Julie Kautz Mills, Kathleen Thornton and Mary Ann Gapinski, has been published by the Journal of School Nursing: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059840517702697  Many of you participated in the focus groups conducted in 2015 to assess implementation of the regulations relative to the management of students’ head injuries incurred during extracurricular sports. It was found that both School Nurses and Athletic Trainers supported the sports concussion legislation, felt that implementation had gone well, indicated that the law empowered them in managing return-to-school/play for students with concussion, and experienced support from their school administrators. Some School Nurses reported that they had applied relevant procedures to all students with head injuries, regardless of how or where the injury occurred. Challenges that were identified include protocols for away games, inconsistent concussion care by physicians, and a need for teacher education. Thank you for this work….and all you do every day to keep kids safe and healthy in our schools and communities!

Please see the discussion below from Screening for Mental Health (the founders of the S.O.S. program for schools) for information related to an important issue for our students.  On March 31, Netflix launched Thirteen Reasons Why, a TV series based on a popular novel of the same name. The fictional story is cautionary tale of a young girl’s suicide, and covers other sensitive subject matter as the series progresses. In response to the series and in partnership with the Jed Foundation, SAVE drafted the following talking points to assist parents, teachers, and other gatekeepers in talking to youth about suicide as it relates to the situational drama that unfolds in Thirteen Reasons Why.  It is essential that all school health personnel be familiar with these issues for our students. Thank you.

Have a great week!
Mary Ann, Janet and Carol