[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S3037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL SCHOOL NURSE DAY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor National School 
Nurse Day. Today we recognize the contributions that school nurses make 
every day to improve the health and learning outcomes of our Nation's 
children, especially as our children face more challenging chronic 
health issues than ever before. A top priority of this Nation should be 
ensuring that our children have a healthy and successful future. School 
nurses make this vision a reality each day. Quite simply, healthy 
children learn better and are more likely to become successful members 
of society.
  In New York there are about 3,700 school nurses who are serving our 
students out of the more than 76,000 nationwide. School nurses provide 
a non-negotiable value to schools, families, communities, and this 
Nation as a whole. By keeping children healthy, in school, and ready to 
learn, school nurses save money and save lives. Every teacher deserves 
to stay in the classroom and focus on educational outcomes, and every 
parent deserves to be able to go to work and send his or her child to 
school with a nurse who will keep his or her child safe and healthy. 
School nurses have the knowledge, skills and judgment to manage 
potentially emergent situations and provide daily care for students 
with increasing chronic health conditions, ranging from asthma to 
childhood obesity to Type-2 diabetes to severe food allergies. Research 
shows that when a full-time school nurse is present, student attendance 
rates increase and hospital utilization rates decrease. The school 
nurse also plays a vital role in promoting prevention and wellness, 
from detecting outbreaks of communicable diseases, such as H1N1, and 
taking action to prevent cases from developing to administering 
immunizations and ensuring students are compliant with regulations. 
Every day, school nurses are on the front lines, providing access and 
delivering health care services to our Nation's children.
  In 1897, after several outbreaks of infectious diseases that affected 
the New York City schoolchildren, the city's department of health 
appointed the first doctors to examine students for contagious 
diseases. With the concerns over uneducated and unhealthy youth 
growing, Lina Rogers Struthers became the Nation's first school nurse. 
The impact of nursing services proved dramatic, and after only 1 month 
the city voted to set aside money to employ trained nurses in its 
schools.
  Today, the National Association of School Nurses celebrates the 
specialized practice of school nursing, acknowledging that school 
nurses advance the well-being, academic success and life-long 
achievement and health of students. The American Academy of Pediatrics 
has also reaffirmed the crucial role of school nurses ``in the seamless 
provision of comprehensive health services to children and youth.'' 
``The Role of the School Nurse in Providing School Health Services,'' 
AAP, Pediatrics, Vol. 121, No. 5, May 1, 2008, pp. 1052 1056.
  National School Nurse Day highlights the need for a full-time nurse 
in every school, every day--which is why I have introduced a bill, the 
Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2012, S. 2047. This 
legislation would help lower the ratios of students to school nurses 
and evaluate the correlation between access to professional student 
health services and improved educational outcomes. This Nation must 
invest in programs and services that seek to improve the health and 
well-being outcomes of children, which include supporting school 
nurses.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing today 
as National School Nurse Day so we may continue to honor school nurses 
and the care they provide to students day in and day out, paving the 
path for a healthier and more successful future for all of our Nation's 
children.

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