Smokers help fund a new school nurse

Marisa O’Neil

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has smokers to thank for a

new school nurse who will start by the end of the school year.

Money for that position will come from Proposition 10, the

California Children and Families Act of 1998 that added a

50-cents-per-pack tax to cigarettes to be used for early childhood

development programs. The Children and Families Commission of Orange

County, which doles out that money locally, announced this week, the

allocation of $1 million for school nurses at an average of one per

district.

The program is partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Any time we can look at adding a nurse [in the district] is

wonderful,” said Marcia BMarthaler, coordinator of health services

for the school district. “Traditionally, school nurses are spread

real thin.”

Currently the district has 13 nurses employed full and part time

to cover its schools, after school programs and Hope Healthy Start

Clinic, BMarthaler said. That works out to 8.4 school nurses to cover

the district’s 31 kindergarten through 12th-grade schools.

The new nurse positions in Orange County will serve children up to

age 5, said Kelly Pijl, spokeswoman for the Children and Families

Commission of Orange County. Proposition 10 language specifically

identifies that age group as being in need of healthcare.

“The commission sees a need in the community for children to be

healthy and ready to learn before they start school,” Pijl said. “And

if they’re healthy early in their lives, that will help them be

healthy and successful later in their lives.”

Newport-Mesa has essentially one nurse for its preschool programs

at Whittier, Wilson and Harper schools. Two nurses split their time

between the schools and the Hope clinic, meaning each school gets a

nurse for two or three days each week.

Getting a new nurse for that age group means they can screen more

children for health problems and developmental problems, BMarthaler

said. Children that age who are seen in the clinic and in schools

often do not have health insurance, so the school nurses may provide

the only health care or screening they receive.

“The sooner we catch any health issues they may have deal with,

the sooner we can take care of them and help them be ready for

school,” she said. “We want to take them to their optimal level of

health so they can learn and progress much better.”

Countywide, the commission is counting on supplying 27 new nurses.

Each district, depending on its size, will get either one or two

nurses or a half-time nurse. Newport-Mesa, Pijl said, will get a new

one before school is out for the year.

The commission is hiring a consultant to manage the program and

expedite the process of hiring the nurses, she said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.