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District nurse reports staffing pressures, new cardiac emergency plan and large volume of school health visits
Summary
District registered nurse Nicole Edwards told the board the health services team logged roughly 30,847 office visits this year across district schools, serves 3,865 students, and is preparing for a new state cardiac emergency response requirement that will require AED placement, drills and certified staff at each school.
Nicole Edwards, the district's registered nurse, presented the Health Services annual indicator report and told the Grand Rapids Public School District board the district currently staffs 11 health-service positions — six registered nurses, four LPNs and one registered licensed school nurse — and supports 3,865 students as of April 10.
Edwards said nurses tracked roughly 30,847 health office visits across schools during the reporting period, with school-level totals shown in her slides. She listed common chronic conditions the nurses manage: asthma (reported at about 37.9 percent), allergies (about 35.6 percent), diabetes (about 12.4 percent) and seizure disorders (about 14.1 percent). Edwards credited partnerships — notably the Lions Club, which assists with vision screenings — and community clinics for follow-up care and immunization clinics.
Edwards warned the board of staffing challenges: a shortage of substitute nurses and noncompetitive compensation compared with other health-care settings that complicate coverage and retention. She described the emotional and triage demands on school nurses, including expanded mental-health needs such as anxiety and depression.
On state policy changes, Edwards outlined a recently enacted cardiac emergency response requirement (SER) that will take effect next school year. The SER requires each school to maintain a written cardiac emergency response plan, establish a cardiac emergency response team, place and maintain automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on campus, train staff in CPR/AED, and conduct annual drills and a school-board review. Edwards said the district already has AEDs and monthly AED maintenance logs; the district plans to coordinate with local emergency medical services and offer multiple CPR classes this month to meet certification targets (the requirement Edwards cited: at least five staff members or 10 percent of a school's staff certified and AED-trained).
During questions, board members asked why East Elementary showed higher visit counts; Edwards said that site has a larger population of students requiring chronic-condition management (asthma, diabetes, seizure disorders). Board members also asked whether the district provides services to homeschooled or private-school students; Edwards said nurses do IEP-related evaluations for homeschooled students and the district provides contract services to St. Joe's Lighthouse Christian Academy under an agreement (their on-site nurse is Kathy Ericson).
Edwards closed by noting National Nurses Week and National School Nurse Day and invited board members to acknowledge nurses in their buildings.
The board took no formal vote related to the report; members thanked Edwards for the presentation.
