Happy July,

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer. Take this time to rest and enjoy your time away as we have no idea what we will face when school starts back. We will all need to be well rested.

I want to thank those of you who joined our Town Hall meeting. I felt that it was informative and to the point. Please remember to check our website regularly as we will post updates as we receive them. Rest assured that we are working for you. We want to provide you with the information you need to be able to make an informed decision.

Project ADAM is planning a virtual in-service to be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the week of July 20th. The program will be from 1:00 until 1:30 on each of those days. Please see invitation linked in this newsletter.

NASN virtual conference finished today. It was definitely different than their normal conference. That being said the presentations were good and I really learned a lot. At this time we are still planning to have our conference in Houston but will adjust as the Governor recommends.

Enjoy this last month and take time for yourself. Remember, stress can lead to other health issues.

Stay cool, healthy and wash your hands,

Lisa

School Nurses Shaping Opportunities for Student Wellness

As I read my local county health department’s coronavirus summary this week, I considered again how our families are disproportionately affected by this virus. The health of students is greatly impacted by where they live, their family’s income level and their race. Health is complex and variable between individuals and population groups. Something other than just healthcare drives the health of a community or a society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Social Determinates of Health (SDOH) are the conditions under which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. These factors have a large influence on health. Health inequities are differences in health that are avoidable, unfair, and/or unjust. Many of these inequities are amplified by COVID-19. Across Texas hotspots, we find more Hispanics and Blacks facing a disproportionate burden of disease and death. School nurses are leaders in their schools and communities in bringing stakeholders together to improve the quality of life for all. Health equity can be achieved when all are able to achieve their full potential by reducing barriers to health.

NASN offers several resources you can add to your toolbox relating to healthy communities: The NASN Position Statement, Healthy Communities-The Role of the School Nurse provides an evidence-based document that can be used to educate and inform school leaders, stakeholders, and policy makers on the importance of healthy communities. They also offer to members a FREE online course, “Building Effective Partnerships and Collaborations for School Nurses.” It includes helpful discussions of Healthy Communities, Social Determinants of Health, Health Equity, Health Education and Population Health concepts.

Finally, an excellent first step in gathering county data can be found at the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It provides a wealth of county actionable data, measures of current overall health, and measures that affect the future health of communities.

As you consider improving your school community, can you identify strategies or approaches that need to change or be implemented to improve student health? If so, please share your story so we can post it in the TSNO Newsletter. Your story may inspire others to action as well.

Please email me if you have any questions or needs.

In your service,

Francis

Francis Luna, MSN, RN, NCSN

TSNO NASN-TX Director

To learn more visit https://www.nbcsn.org/

http://www.txsno.org/membership/jointsno

This is just one example of how membership pays for itself! Stay tuned for more examples!