I hope that good health has graced your family in 2012. We were doing great until the eve of January 30th when I actually made the mistake of thinking (in my head), "Wow, we have had a whole MONTH of being injury/illness free in our house!" Da-da-DUM. I should not have even thought it--in the wee hours of Monday morning, Patrick got sick. Really sick. And so it went: Patrick...a day later: Justin...a day later: me and Will. Eek--a rough week!
I was out two days this week--a very unusual thing for me--and when I got back I was greeted warmly and enthusiastically. But I was also greeted with a lot of children who reported that they, too, were sick. There were many requests to go to the nurse this week, both when I was there and when I was not there. So, our week ended with a fairly big discussion about when it's appropriate to go to the nurse. I explained that there are many ailments we can handle in our room (I consider the classroom the "triage," while the nurse's office is the ER--only for the worst cases).
Examples of when NOT to go to the nurse:
- Small cuts (we have bandages in the room)
- Chapped lips (I have Vaseline and cotton swabs)
- Dry skin (I have lotion)
- Loose teeth (unless they are REALLY about to come out, in which case Nurse Kelly can assist in the final pull and give the reward for losing the tooth--treasure box, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.
Examples of when you SHOULD go to the nurse:
- You feel like you are about to throw up
- You just can't do your normal school jobs without feeling REALLY terrible and the above mentioned remedies won't help
- An ice pack is totally necessary--big bumps, falls, etc.
- Big headache, sore throat, stomach ache, etc.
I think that everyone understood this message, and it didn't hurt that one of the substitute teachers this week is an EMT and gave the children a very similar message. Someone with medical training has more clout than a mere classroom teacher! :-)
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