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Davie County lead nurse reports 25,288 health-room encounters in 2023–24; district has seven full‑time nurses
Summary
Lead school nurse Lori Dingler told the board that nurses recorded 25,288 health‑room visits in the prior school year, administered 9,288 medications, tracked 2,829 students with chronic health conditions and conducted 2,439 vision and hearing screenings. The district employs seven full‑time nurses who work in schools part time (three days/week).
Lori Dingler, lead school nurse for Davie County Schools, presented the district’s annual school health report to the board, detailing student contacts, screenings and nursing services for the 2023–24 school year.
Dingler reported 25,288 health‑room encounters last year; of those, 23,748 students were sent back to class rather than being sent home. Nurses administered 9,288 medication doses and documented 2,829 students with one or more chronic health conditions. The report also recorded 548 students with physician orders to receive medication at school and 63 students followed through the district’s case‑management program.
District screening and preventive services included 2,439 vision and hearing screenings (171 referred to eye doctors; 108 secured follow‑up care by year end) and 88 health‑education presentations. School nurses made 18 home visits, participated in 504 special‑education related meetings (IEP/SST/SMART) and aided in 13 suicide or threat assessments. A district flu clinic through Walgreens vaccinated 147 staff members; the Friendly Dental Van saw 152 students and the state dental hygienist performed 187 dental screenings.
Dingler told the board the district employs seven full‑time school nurses; one position (Katie McDaniel at the high school) is funded through a state School Nurse Funding Initiative (SNFIE) while the remaining nurses are employed by the district. Nurses are scheduled to be in each school three days per week; Dingler said the district could staff more but that the existing team does "a great job." A board member praised the increase in students who secured follow-up vision care (noting a jump from 45% to 63% secured care year over year) and emphasized the role nurses play in keeping students in class — Dingler noted 94% of health‑room visits resulted in students returning to class.
On counseling and one‑on‑one support, Dingler said the district had an elevated number of "health counseling sessions," explaining that several high‑need students beginning around the previous Christmas required substantially more nursing time, phone calls with physicians and family support. She said the nursing team can provide a range of services from blood‑sugar monitoring for students with diabetes to coordinating orders for tube feeding or other health procedures performed at school.
Board members asked about staffing ratios and why the health‑counseling count rose; Dingler provided the staffing numbers (seven full‑time nurses, district coverage model) and linked the counseling increase to a small number of high‑need students who required sustained nursing attention. The board thanked the health services team for their work.
The presentation provided the board and the public a summary of the district’s health‑services volume and indicated areas where staffing and follow‑up care remain priorities.
