Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
School health director: calls to 911, chronic conditions and immunization clinics rose and response capacity expanded
Summary
Director of School Health Michelle Babilias presented end‑of‑year data showing increases in documented student health conditions and emergency calls, widespread staff CPR/AED training, district stock emergency medication and successful immunization clinics that reduced noncompliance from 752 students to 20.
Michelle Babilias, the district’s director of school health, presented an end‑of‑year report July 15 that summarized staffing, emergency response, student health conditions, Medicaid reimbursement work and immunization outreach.
Babilias said the district documented more than 3,000 active student health conditions in 2024–25 (up from 2,666 the prior year), with notable increases in musculoskeletal issues, gastrointestinal conditions, asthma and allergies. Nurses and health‑room assistants recorded more than 11,000 documented interventions when an office visit required more than a basic bandage, and the district reported 31 calls to 911 during the school year; five of those calls required administration of stock emergency medication.
She described the district’s Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) program, which requires participating staff to be CPR/First‑Aid/AED certified. Babilias said the district provided roughly 68 staff members with certification or recertification through district training last year; the district’s in‑house training reduced per‑person certification costs compared with commercial offerings.
On stock medications, Babilias said the district has free EpiPens and Narcan available and recently secured stock albuterol via a grant. She said staff are trained to call 911 and remain with a student after administering stock emergency medication until EMS arrives. Drills for medical emergencies are conducted twice each school year and include unannounced scenarios with mannequins to time responses and verify procedures.
Babilias also outlined disease‑tracking work with Rock County Public Health; the district shared de‑identified absence data for analysis on trends and interventions. She explained that school nurses spend significant time on care coordination and IEP‑related health reviews, often reviewing detailed medical records when planning accommodations.
On immunizations, Babilias said the district began the year with 752 non‑compliant students and reduced that to 20 by offering multiple on‑site clinics (partnering with Rock County Health Department, SSM mobile clinics and a community health center) at no cost to families and by arranging flexible clinic times and locations to reduce access barriers.
Board members asked how the district handles staff illnesses (Babilias said staff are referred to their primary care providers for routine care), how Narcan administration is followed (nurses and MERT stay with the student until EMS arrives), and how the district manages vomiting and gastrointestinal complaints (nurses assess situational vs. illness‑related causes and will not return students to class if they have vomited more than once). Several board members thanked Babilias for the work and said the programs and training are important for medically complex students.
Babilias also described Medicaid billing oversight: she monitors documentation and trains nurses on billing to help capture reimbursements for eligible services and supports, and she said she fills short‑term staffing gaps when necessary.
