School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week, May 6-12 each year. IUSD acknowledges and celebrates the accomplishments of our health services team for their efforts in meeting the needs of today’s students by improving the delivery of healthcare in our schools. Our District is extremely grateful for our nurses, health assistants and administrative team who contribute to our community by helping students stay healthy, in school and ready to learn.
School nurses provide support for a variety of physical and mental health concerns for IUSD students and staff each day. School nurses collaborate with service teams at their sites to ensure students have the various supports they need to be successful in the school setting. They work side by side with our Mental Health Specialists and Elementary Resource Counselors to ensure mental health needs are met and also serve an integral role on our Special Education teams to ensure that a student’s health concern is not a barrier to their educational experience. Our school nurses work diligently every day to collaborate with outside providers, care teams, and parents for individual students with complex medical needs. In addition, our school nurses are certified CPR instructors and provide CPR certification to all staff at no cost. School nurses work with our community emergency responders such as OC Fire Authority and Irvine Police Department to ensure that our emergency training is up to date and part of a streamlined and collaborative approach to campus emergencies.
IUSD's team of 27 nurses played a critical role in managing and mitigating challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses worked well beyond their normal hours supporting our school sites, providing community COVID-19 support at vaccination clinics and/or through an after-hours helpline to provide IUSD families and staff health information and resources as part of the county’s COVID-19 Schools Response Team.
Shadlie Kensrue, IUSD's Health Services Coodinator explains that the most rewarding part of school nursing, "is being able to partner with a student and their family year after year to ensure that, despite a complex medical concern, school can be a safe, welcoming, and inclusive place to learn, grow, and thrive."
Thank you to our nurses and the entire Health Services department who continue to go above and beyond to keep IUSD students and school personnel safe and healthy.
To learn more about IUSD Health Services, click here.