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Our May 25th celebration dinner was delightful and delicious

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Dr. Harriet Coleman, DNP, APN-C, NCSN, CSN and ECSNA Co-President Laura Sacks, RN, BA, BSN, MA, were able to join us so that we could honor their dedication and many accomplishments.
We also honored the dedication and accomplishments of Beth Dean, MA, CSN-NJ, RN and Charlene Reilly, MS, CSN-NJ, RN as we listened to their biographical information.

The recording of our Thursday, May 18, 2023 educational program: 

Managing Emergencies in the School Setting

presented by Dr. Fred Waldron, MD, an Emergency Medicine Specialist in Newark can be found in the Recordings section of our website by clicking here.

ECSNA Co-President Laura Sacks was among the honored retirees at the NJSSNA dinner meeting on May 16th. NJSSNA President, Donna Pleus, also honored Harriet Coleman, Charlene Reilly and Elizabeth Dean, who were not present at the dinner.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RETIREES!

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VERY EXCITING NEWS:
NJSSNA announced the release of the 2nd edition of Promoting Health and Learning: School Nursing Practice in New Jersey's Public Schools, which can be found on the NJSSNA website by clicking here.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO gINA EMGE!

(pictured seated above)
for being awarded the NASN School Nurse Excellence Award and NJSSNA's School Nurse of the Year!

New Jersey Governor proclaims May As Nurses Month
Happy School Nurses Day Week from NJSNA!

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Employment Opportunity-Belleville


Our ECSNA member, Susan Cozzarelli, RN, MSN, CSN, School Nurse for Belleville School Nine/ Belleville Head Nurse, Tel: 973-450-3500 ext. 3903, requested that we post this new PreK Nursing position due to their PreK expansion. Please see below:

School Nurse - Preschool

To apply, please click on this link: https://www.applitrack.com/belleville/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Student+Support+Services

Taryn Rivera

Human Resources

Belleville Board of Education 

56 Ralph Street

Belleville NJ 07109

973-450-3500 x 1078

If you have any additional questions, please contact us by clicking here. 

This information will also appear on the Employment Opportunities page of our website.

 Our thanks to Sheila Caldwell, BSN, RN, CSN, FNASN for the following information with links to excellent resources:
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Makes Progress in the Whole-of-Government Response to Long COVID
Please click here for the complete document.

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The recording of our Wednesday, April 19, 2023 educational program:

Overview of Human Trafficking presented by Ingrid Johnson RN, MSN, a nationally recognized expert and speaker in the field of Human Trafficking can be found in the Recordings section of our website by clicking here.

The Relentless School Nurse: Are You a #FedUpSchoolNurse? Join Moms Demand Action #FedUp Campaign for School Safety

Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN

(Please click on the title above to read Robin Cogan's full blog)

Please see the excerpt below:

"To learn more about the #FedUp campaign and how you can get involved, visit the Moms Demand Action website at Moms Demand Action – #FedUp. Join me in becoming a #FedUpSchoolNurse and let’s demand safety for our students and communities."

Many thanks to our Co-President, Laura Sacks, RN, BA, BSN, MA, for sharing valuable information on
"Cyclic Sighing" for anxiety reduction presented during a recent Virtual Schwartz Rounds presentation. For more information, please click
here.

Many thanks to our Co-President, Laura Sacks, RN, BA, BSN, MA, for sharing information regarding a statewide initiative to support students:
NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S)
A Statewide Response to the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Please see the excerpt below and click here to read the full description:

"The new model, the NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) network, would create 15 regional hubs, aligned along court vicinages("the area where a crime was committed, a trial is being held, or the community from which jurors are drawn") and Children’s System of Care service areas, to support statewide delivery of prevention services in schools, as well as other locations in the community including but not limited to: libraries, community centers, faith-based-organizations and family success centers." 

The regional hub for ESSEX COUNTY: Family Connections, Inc. 
"The Spokes
While hubs provide the expertise and staffing for program delivery, the spokes are sites where programming will be delivered. This will include school and will also include additional spaces utilized by the community, such as Family Success Centers, community centers, libraries or other locations that are accessible and conducive to the programming offered. It also includes the community services to which students, or their parents/caregivers may be referred."

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The recording of our Wednesday, March 22, 2023 educational program on Cardiac Emergencies Presented by James C. Schatzle, BS, Paramedic can now be found on our "Recordings" page.

James Schatzle's contact information:

Team Life, Inc.

291 Route 34

Colts Neck, NJ 07722

732-946-4243

support@teamlife.com

www.teamlife.com

From Sheila Caldwell, BSN, RN, CSN, FNASN posted on the March 7th NASN All Member Forum:
CALL TO ACTION - Medicaid Unwinding as Public Health Emergency Ends April 1, 2023! PLEASE READ

  • The Public Health Emergency (PHE) Unwinding that was announced in fall 2022.

  • The date for changes to Medicaid are going to take place starting in just a few weeks.

  • States have been submitting their plans to CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and it is anticipated that more than 66% of Americans are not aware that they will lose Medicaid benefits. 

  • First Month Unwinding-Related Renewals are Initiated: April

  • Effective Date of First Anticipated Terminations for Procedural Reasons*: June

(* This is generally the first month that members who have not had their eligibility successfully renewed in the past 12 months may be disenrolled for procedural reasons, such as non-response to a renewal form, per CMS guidelines. Terminations for individuals the state has redetermined as ineligible for Medicaid and CHIP may occur on or after April 1, 2023.)​

  • Sheila Caldwell provided some resources below, but us as school nurses and schools in general need to speak with parents and families about the importance of updating their contact information with the Medicaid program in the state ASAP! Then, be sure to watch their mail for any documents that will be sent in the coming months. They could receive mail as soon as April 1st and if they do not complete the documents or online information, they will be disenrolled!! 

  • We already know the challenges for children and families when there is no insurance available to address their health needs. 

  • As nurses we can plan major initiatives in our schools and communities to provide awareness about this ASAP!

  • Sheila Caldwell has provided some links and resources for you to get an initiative going. Contact your state Medicaid office for any specific state information that you can share. On social media (mainly twitter), if you search "Medicaid unwinding" you will find states hosting listening sessions, sharing flyers, and other information.

  • The key to all this is that there are people who need the information in the spaces where it is being conveyed and are they (meaning Medicaid/state officials) thinking of other places and spaces where people with Medicaid might best get the information (eg., table set up in laundromats, supermarkets, churches, schools, etc), where organizations and people as us, nurses can get the information to the people that need it most.

  • The online efforts are nice, but some of these families may have limited online access.

  • You can contact Sheila Caldwell on the NASN All Member Forum about your efforts to have the families in your communities not fall in the gap and have to totally re-enroll. Please be sure to share your ideas, school newsletter or any news articles of your efforts to address this major issue that will be starting in only weeks!

RESOURCES:

The recording of the School Nursing: Putting the Pieces Together presented on February 15th by our NJDOE State School Nurse Consultant, Lorraine Borek, MSN, M.Ed., RN, CSN-NJ is now on the recordings page.

Lorraine Borek's Contact information:

New Jersey Department of Education: nj.gov/education

Lorraine Borek

healthyschools@doe.nj.gov

great news! 
cover all kids 
took effect January 1st
our thanks to our co-president, Laura sacks, RN, BA, BSN, CSN, MA  for sharing this excellent news about making health care available to all children in new jersey!

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To find out more about Cover All Kids, please visit this website, https://nj.gov/coverallkids/.  There are a number of resources, including FAQs, printable flyers (click here for the English flyer & click here for the Spanish flyer), and shareable social media graphics, to help your agency and your contacts to learn more about the program.  The goal is to ensure residents in every part of New Jersey are familiar with Cover All Kids and the essential benefits it provides for their children.  Together, we can help safeguard our kids with the health services they deserve.

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The recording of our Wednesday, January 18, 2023 educational program on

Review of Cannabis Legislation in Relation to the School Setting

Presented by Joel Torres, MA, MCHES, ADAPT Senior Manager Family Connections & John Worthington, Esq., Education Law Specialist, NJPSA/FEA/LEGAL ONE

can be found on our recordings page, (found in the dropdown under the events page).

Great news: Sheila Caldwell, BSN, RN, CSN, FNASN posted on the January 13th to 15th NASN All Member Forum that there is a recording of the School Nurse Forum on Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Please see the message from the SADS Foundation below:

Thank you to everyone who attended our School Nurse Forum on Sudden Cardiac Arrest last night! We had over 2,500 school nurses register.

 

If you were unable to attend, or would like to watch this webinar again, you can view it here:

Watch the Webinar

If you have other school nurses in your region who would like to learn more about our resources and receive this forum recording, they can register here.

 

Here are the links mentioned during the presentation:

 

SADS Foundation

 

Project ADAM

 

We also wanted to let you know about some of our other resources for school nurses, including:

  • Our free school nurse packets, which you can receive digitally or in-person (please note that it currently takes 1-2 weeks to receive the in-person packet after ordering)

  • Our school nurse webinar from 2022 with more about each SADS condition

  • Upcoming small School Nurse Forums with SADS & your local Project ADAM affiliate where you can talk with your peers and ask more questions about SCA (stay tuned for details soon!).

 

You can help us improve our resources for school nurses by taking this brief, 5-minute survey. Your response is confidential and helps us tailor our resources to best serve school nurses.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Understanding, Screening, and Supporting Individuals in the School Setting

This on-demand program is an opportunity for school nurses, pediatric nurses, and other school-based professionals to develop an understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:​

  • Understand the physiology of FASD development during pregnancy

  • Explain the importance of the screening and identifying children who have FASD Implement skills and knowledge to support children and families affected by FASD in their education

  • Support school staff in creating the most beneficial learning environment for children affected by FASD and utilize resources available in New Jersey.

 Target Audience: School Nurses, Pediatric Nurses, School-Based Professionals Learning Outcome: At the conclusion of the program, the participants will self-report knowledge gained related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, screening, and resources to support families.
Continuing Nursing Education Contact Hours: This program has been awarded 1.0 contact hours. The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by New Jersey State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. P194-2/2023 Approval status does not imply endorsement by the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey, NJSNA or by ANCC of any commercial products discussed/displayed in conjunction with the educational activity. Questions? Visit our website or contact Kelly Dietrich at kdietrich@pmch.org
Successful Completion: To receive contact hours for participating in the recorded continuing education program, the registrant must log in to the recorded webinar, view the entire presentation, and complete and submit an evaluation. A certificate of completion will be distributed within one month of submission of the evaluation. Disclosure/Commercial Support: The planners and speaker do not have any conflicts of interest to report for this activity. There is no commercial support for this activity. Cost: This program is free, but registration is required. Registration:
Click
here to register.

From Harvard Health Publishing - Harvard Medical School regarding edible marijuana ingestion in children:
CHILD & TEEN HEALTH

Edibles and children: Poison center calls rise (please click on the title to read the article)

From Rick Hager, Community Outreach Coordinator, Office of Communications, Legislative and Public Affairs

New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), Cell:  (609) 947-7505, Email: Richard.Hager@dcf.nj.gov

Family Success Centers are “one-stop” shops that provide resources and supports for families before they find themselves in crisis. They offer primary child abuse prevention services to families and bring together concerned community residents, leaders, and community agencies to address the problems that threaten the safety and stability of families and the community.

 

Family Success Centers offer a warm and welcoming home-like environment that provides family friendly activities and resources within communities to strengthen families. There is no cost to access the services they provide.
Program Services include:

  • Access to information on child, maternal and family health services, economic self-sufficiency and job  readiness

  • Information and referral services (connection to off-site public social services and private resources)

  • Life skills training

  • Housing services

  • Parent education

  • Parent-child activities

  • Advocacy

There are 57 Family Success Centers in New Jersey. To locate a program near you, please visit: https://www.nj.gov/dcf/families/support/success/ and share broadly with your community.

12/21/22 Overview of the NJ Emotional Well-being Institute (NJ-NEW) program follow-up information:

Presented by Jennifer Polakowski, MPA, Assistant Director NJ-Nursing Emotional Well-being Institute (NJ-NEW) has generously agreed to share her presentation slides which you can access by clicking here. Please see the excerpt below:

Current interventions/ programs include:

Virtual Schwartz Rounds (VSR)

  • Stress First Aid (SFA)

  • Nurse2Nurse Helpline (N2N)

  • Pilot- Peer to Peer App (Dugri)

Future interventions/ programs include:

  • Well-being Hub (WBH)

  • Repository of resources

Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030 / Nursing Bill

  • Recommendation 3.7, 3.9 & 3.10

  • S2528/A4325

The Relentless School Nurse: Nursing, Let’s Join the Call for a U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Gun Violence?
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN

(Please click on the title above to read Robin Cogan's full blog)

Please see the excerpt below:

"Dr. Peter Masiakos included the voice of school nursing in a compendium published in Current Trauma Reports in early 2020, just as the pandemic began. Here is a link to an article that I co-authored with dear colleagues: School Nurses Share Their Voices, Trauma, and Solutions by Sounding the Alarm on Gun Violence Robin Cogan, Donna M. Nickitas, Donna Mazyck & Sunny G. Hallowell

Here is the full collection, as Dr. Masiakos said, it was intended to serve as an early blueprint for a U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Gun Violence: Topical Collection on Gun Violence"

From: SHEILA CALDWELL, BSN, RN, CSN, FNASN downloaded from the NASN All Member Forum 12/9  to 12/11
Did you know that your school may be improperly disposing of vape products and paraphernalia? Read about it!
As more and more schools are confiscating vape products, they need to be sure that they are disposing of them appropriately.
Here are two resources that you should read and share with your school districts. In addition, as we consider environmental justice, this is truly something that our schools should be looking at. See below and click the images.

By the way, the EPA has a new office of environmental justice. You can contact your regional office of EJ if you have any questions. Here is the link - click
here

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(Please click on the above images for a larger version)

Great News from NJSSNA:
"The New Jersey State School Nurses Association (NJSSNA) is very happy and proud to announce that after several years of advocacy to install a state school nursing consultant at the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE),

former president of the NJSSNA & ecsna,
lorraine Borek, MSN, M.Ed., RN, CSN-NJ,
has joined the NJDOE as the
State School Nurse Consultant.
For the entire NJSSNA announcement please click here."

From the NJDOH DSH Team:

"With holiday gatherings right around the corner, we thought we would provide a few resources to help prevent the spread of Influenza, RSV, COVID-19 and other common communicable diseases this holiday season:

 

·       Clean Hands and Spaces: Web-Based Training | CDC  (An excellent overview of mitigation strategies for school and childcare centers! Earn 2 CEUs at no cost!)  

·       Cold Versus Flu | CDC

·       Prevent the Spread of Colds & Flu

·       What's the Difference Between Cleaners, Sanitizers, and Disinfectants (nj.gov)

 

It’s also important to review the NJDOH School Exclusion List to determine when students and staff can safely return to school following an illness. NJDOH also has this helpful flyer,  “When Should Children Stay Home from School” (see attached) which you may want to share with your parent body, as a good reminder.

 

Additionally, our partners at the Vaccine Preventable Disease Program have an exciting initiative for students in grades 5-12: Create, Educate, Vaccinate! Protect Me With 3+ is an annual poster and video contest and a collaboration between The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Health.


This exciting contest that promotes immunizations is open to middle and high school students across New Jersey. The top three posters and videos will win awesome prizes and will be showcased at statewide immunization awareness events. Learn more here.

 

Lastly, you can always visit the New Jersey Department of Health School Health and DSH Team webpages for more information. There you will find additional educational and training materials, outbreak guidance, forms and a variety of resources on how to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in both the school and childcare setting."

Please click on the images below for the full documents:

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Our thanks to Kathy McCutcheon, MSN, RN, NCSN, the Secretary of the NJSSNA Executive Board, for this Respiratory Illness YouTube

from the NJDOH posted on the NJSSNA discussion list

Please click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4yTtcBbNCA

The Taking Diabetes to School Presentation from 11/16/22

by Ashley Colnett,  BSN, RN, CDCES, CSN

Education Coordinator

Camp Nejeda Foundation Incorporated

has been downloaded to the Recordings page of the website. Please login as a website member to view the presentation, as this is a website members only page.

For the excellent diabetes resources page, please click here or go to our Resources tab.

From the NJDOH DSH Team:
 

Here are a few additional things to remember when faced with increased illness in your school or childcare:  

  

1.       Monitor for outbreaks

  • Daycares and Schools are seeing an increase in respiratory viruses (including RSV & Influenza). Please review the attached flyer (It’s Not Just COVID) for a summary of situations which may indicate that an outbreak is occurring.

  

2.       Be prepared in case an outbreak occurs

 

3.         Contact your Local Health Department

  • As soon as you notice an increase in the number of absences related to illness, you should reach out to your local health department.  Remember outbreaks of diseases are reportable even if an individual case of the disease is not reportable.

  • Find your Local Health Department by using this directory.

 

4.       Reinforce cleaning practices  

 

5.       Increase communication to families  

  • Your local health department can help provide communication and education geared towards families.  

 

6.       Stay home when sick