School Health

The goal of School Health services is to ensure that students are healthy, in school, and ready to learn. School health services include:

• Vision, hearing, nutritional and scoliosis screenings,
• Health assessments
• Emergency treatment and first aid
• Specialized, skilled direct care
• Parent, faculty and physician conferences
• Educational programs
• Immunization and record monitoring

School health services help minimize health barriers to learning for public school students in pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade.

The Department serves about 40,000 students attending Marion County’s 58 public schools. School nurses help administer medications, which include inhalers or nebulizers, daily doses of medications, and epinephrine autoinjectors—commonly called EpiPens—for students with severe allergies. Some schoolchildren need eyedrops, eardrops, or patches, and the nurses are there to help them. School nurses watch over many students diagnosed with diabetes. They perform specialized nursing services for children with more complex medical needs, such as catheterizations, tube feedings and tracheostomy care.

The nurses begin each school year by screening children for health issues: vision, weight, scoliosis and others. If they discover a medical need, they can refer the child via their parents or guardians to family doctors, or help families find affordable health care resources, if they qualify.

School nurses serve as a resource for students, parents and school staff. To help carry the load, they train appropriate school personnel to perform some medical procedures, as allowed by Florida law.

For more information visit the Department’s School Health page.