Normally, elementary school teachers encourage students to share and play nice. Not this year, the year of the flu epidemic.
The Tucson Unified School District and the Pima County Health Department are teaming up to prevent the flu from spreading among elementary school students.
The health department says the vaccines are the most effective way to prevent the flu. While the seasonal flu vaccine has been available, the vaccine for H1N1 just recently arrived in Pima County.
On Oct. 7, the county's health department received 9,000 doses of the live virus nasal spray, but it is only being administered to those who need it most. These groups include: young people, ages two to 24, health care workers under age 50 and adults under age 50 who take care of children younger than six months old.
The department is especially concerned with children in Tucson elementary schools.
“They are kids and they do kid things. They share and are very open with each other so the disease has a better opportunity to spread,” said Patti Woodcock, a spokesperson for the Pima County Health Department.
This is exactly the type of behavior TUSD and the health department discourage during this flu season.
"We are encouraging social distancing,” said Kathy Rucker, director of school health services for TUSD.
This means avoiding handshakes and hugging and kissing when greeting friends, any physical contact could potentially spread germs, she said.
The health department has been working with Tucson schools to get an early start on preparing for outbreaks of both flu viruses.
“We sent out a letter at the beginning of the year to warn parents about these viruses,” said Mission View Elementary School Principal Elizabeth Redondo. All of the schools in TUSD letters written by the health department at the end of August, giving flu prevention tips to parents.
Redondo said the school is getting ready to send home a second, more specific letter encouraging parents to screen carefully for flu symptoms and asking that children experiencing these symptoms stay home until they are symptom-free and without medication for at least 24 hours, she said.
“Elementary schools are our biggest concern because they are the easiest avenue for disease to spread,” Woodcock said.
The schools have come up with their own way to educate children on flu prevention, Rucker said.
At Mission View Elementary School, counselor Liz Hoover uses Margaret the puppet to teach kids to cough into their sleeves, a method principal Redondo calls, “meaningful and engaging.”
“I know it works because I have witnessed kids using the strategies they've learned,” Redondo said. “She [Margaret] becomes real to them. The engagement is key because then they remember.”
According to Rucker, schools have been so good at teaching children coughing etiquette, the kids are better at coughing into their sleeves than the adults. “We should put them on cough patrol,” she joked.
TUSD schools are also providing free, on-site seasonal flu vaccines for high-risk students. This includes students with diabetes, asthma or any illness that would make flu symptoms more severe.
TUSD officials aren't only concerned about students this flu season. Parents and staff members need to be prepared for flu viruses too, Rucker said.
The letter from the health department encourages parents to make a plan in case their child comes down with the flu.
“Does someone need to stay home with the child? Can parents afford to miss work if a child gets sick? These are all things that need to be thought out in advance,” Rucker said.
The same sort of planning goes for TUSD staff.
“We want schools to work on continuity of operations planning so if they have a significant amount of staff that calls in sick they can still function,” Woodcock said.
Redondo said Mission View Elementary already has a plan in place.
“I have sent out a memo to our faculty to tell them that if they do have a fever they need to stay home and monitor it very closely,” she said.
“We are preparing for those types of absences. We have strategies in place whether that be co-teaching or having a specialist or myself come in to teach classes.”
Schools may be prepared for flu outbreaks, but TUSD and the health department officials still strongly encourage that children get the H1N1 vaccine.
In fact, officials are so adamant about children getting vaccinated, that TUSD has proposed the health department make Tucson schools sites for H1N1 vaccinations, when they are more available.
According to Rucker, all of the H1N1 vaccines are federally owned which means it will be up to the individual health departments to choose how they are administered.
TUSD's proposal would make the vaccine available on schools sites without cost.
“It is still very much in the planning stages,” Woodcock said.
The idea is to get the vaccine to every student in Tucson schools but there are still a lot of things that need to be worked out, she said.
