Health Services

WELCOME TO HEALTH SERVICES

YOUR CHILD'S HEALTH IS OUR PRIORITY

Download the latest Health and Safety Plan (September 20th, 2024)

Purpose

At Overbrook School for the Blind we take your child's health very seriously and believe that healthy children learn best. It is our priority to keep our campus safe and healthy for all. We go to great lengths to keep our environment meticulously clean and do our best to prevent the spread of germs. We have a staff of nurses that assist students and staff with medications, illnesses, emergencies, and various nursing needs. Our staff of caring, dedicated, Registered Nurses are on duty to meet the student’s routine and emergency needs from 8AM to 4PM for day students, and 4PM to 8PM for residential students.

A child who is sick will not be able to participate in school activities and could possibly spread the illness to other children and or staff. If your child becomes ill at school and the nurse feels he or she is too ill to remain at school or your child is contagious or it is not safe for your child to travel on the school bus, you will be contacted to pick up your child from school and take him or her home. We suggest planning for childcare in advance, so that you will be prepared to have an appropriate place to take your child if he or she is ill. It is essential that the school has a primary phone number where you can be contacted, and a secondary emergency number in case you cannot be reached at the primary number. If your child manifests any of the symptoms or illnesses indicated below, please do not send him or her to school.

When Your Child Should Stay Home

1. Influenza: children who have a combination of any flu-like symptoms should be kept home until he or she is 24 hours symptom free, without any  anti-fever medicine. These symptoms include fever, cough (deep croupy cough), sore throat, runny/stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, diarrhea and/or vomiting. A doctor's note of medical clearance is required upon return to school.
2. Fever: temperature of over 100.4 degrees may be an indication of illness and the child will be sent home. Children who have fevers upon awakening in the morning or who may have had a fever during the night should not be sent to school. Children should be fever-free for at least 24 hours without Tylenol, Advil or any other anti-fever medicine before being sent back to school. If the student was sent home from school with a fever, the 24-hour rule applies.
3. Diarrhea: children are not to come to school if they have diarrhea. The child's physician should be consulted if diarrhea persists. Should diarrhea occur in school, the parent / guardian will be notified and requested to pick up their child from school. The child should remain home until there has been 24 hours since the last episodes of diarrhea.
4. Vomiting: children are not to come to school if they are experiencing vomiting. Whenever a child has a combination of vomiting and diarrhea, a physician should be consulted. The child should remain home until it has been 24 hours since the last episodes of vomiting.
5. Conjunctivitis (pink eye): is contagious, and a child should stay home for the first 24 hours after treatment begins. Sometimes the whites of the eyes are red, eyelids are red and irritated, and sometimes the lids and lashes are crusted. If seen by a physician, a note indicating the child is cleared should also be provided. Students can return to school if their eyes have no redness or drainage.
6. Rash/skin lesions: if suspicious rash or lesion is present the child is to be excluded from school until a physician's note allows the student to return or rash/lesion disappears or heals.
7. Impetigo: sores, some with crusts or scabs usually on the face around the nose and mouth. The contagious condition requires medication. The child must be cleared by a physician and will require a doctor's note upon return to school.
8. Lice: in the event, the child has head lice, he or she may not return to school until treated according to doctors’ recommendations. Parents need to accompany the student back to school and bring the treatment information to Health Services.
9. Ringworm: ringworm of the scalp and/or body requires treatment by a physician and requires a doctor's note stating the child is under treatment and may return to school.
10. Ear/nose (purulent) drainage: if the discharge is thick, yellow, green, excessive or uncontrollable the child should remain home. The child will be readmitted to school after receiving clearance from the doctor.
11. Streptococcal infection: caused by group a-beta hemolytic-incubation period 1-3 days and communicability 10-21 days (untreated). A child can return to school after a minimum of 24 hours of antibiotic therapy and a Physician's note.
12. Communicable diseases: if your child was exposed to a communicable disease the school nurse must be notified, even if he or she is not symptomatic. Depending on the exposure and your child's immunization status, the student may need to be excluded from school for a prescribed amount of time. The student may not return to school without a doctor's note. These include, but are not limited to:
    1. Pinworms
    2. Rubella
    3. Coxsackie Virus
    4. Tuberculosis
    5. Pertussis
    6. Scarlatina
    7. Meningitis
    8. Measles
    9. Swine Flue
    10. Food Poisoning
    11. Chicken Pox (Varicella)
    12. Mumps
    13. Shingles
    14. Hepatitis
    15. Shigella
    16. Salmonella
    17. C-Diff
    18. Hand Foot and Mouth

Hospitalizations and/or Surgeries

Please notify Health Services via phone at ext. 261, 231 or email (healthservicesstaffgroup@obs.org), when your child has been hospitalized for an illness or surgery. Once we receive your call or email, we will send home via fax, email or postal service our - “Medical Clearance to Return to School After Medical or Surgical Hospitalization,” form. Depending on your child's surgery other pertinent forms will be sent home as determined by the school nurse and your child’s educational support team (e.g. PT/OT, Request to Administer Form, Tube Feed Form).

In order for us to obtain adequate information and plan for your child's return, the form must be completed in its entirety prior to your child returning to school. If your child is having surgery, the form should be returned preferably 2 weeks prior to their return. Forms can be emailed to healthservicesstaffgroup@obs.org or faxed to our office at 215-689-0137.

If you are unable to have our OSB Medical Clearance to Return to School After Medical or Surgical Hospitalization form completed, we will need a note from the treating physician stating the reason for the hospitalization, the date your child may return to school and what restrictions he or she may have, especially regarding feeding changes if any, gym, swimming, physical therapy, occupational therapy and or sports.

The educational support team needs the restrictions and limitations documentation from the treating physician in order to prepare an educational program that is appropriate, safe, and meets your child’s current needs. If your child returns to school after a prolonged hospitalization or surgery without the completed form, requested additional paperwork or a detailed doctors’ note clearing them to return to school, they may be sent home.

Student Medical Equipment

If your child comes to school with a brace, cast, splint, ortho boots, medical shoes/boots, crutches or other equipment that he or she did not previously have, you must provide us with a note indicating that he or she is cleared to come to school with the equipment on. The note must indicate what restrictions and or limitations the child may have in the school setting (e.g. no swimming, no PT/OT, no orientation and mobility, distance allowed to walk, if rest times are required, if skin checks are required, no sports, no running, if there is a need to use the elevator, bending/lifting restrictions etc.).

Emergencies

If it is determined that your child is unstable and needs to seek emergency services via 911/ First Responders, you will be notified immediately. In most instances, your child will be taken to the closest children’s hospital, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). If the First Responders deem that your child is too unstable to transfer to CHOP they may seek medical assistance at the closest hospital to our school, which is Lankenau Medical Center. In either case, you are to meet your child at the hospital they will be transferred to.

Other Considerations

Healthy students run the risk of becoming ill when they are exposed to sick students. This is likely to occur when students come to school sick or sick students are not picked up from school in a timely manner or when sick students return to school before they have fully recovered from their illness. We ask that parents and or guardians assist us with providing a safe and healthy school environment by adhering to the guidelines presented in this policy.

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