FRANKFORT – For thousands of children attending school, the biggest challenge of the day may not be tied to the classroom, but to their health.
A little more than 18 months ago, the General Assembly’s Program Review and Investigations Committee began taking a closer look at this issue, to see what more the state might do to help those facing a chronic disease or a potentially life-threatening allergy.
Though exact numbers are hard to pin down, the committee’s survey of the state’s school districts estimates that there are about 32,000 children with asthma, 2,500 with epilepsy and 1,700 with Type I diabetes – the three most common chronic conditions in our schools – plus 4,600 children with severe allergies to such things as peanuts.
The report adopted by the committee concluded that Kentucky needs more statewide consistency when it comes to these students’ healthcare. It recommended more oversight of school health services by the Department of Education and greater coordination between local health departments and the state’s Department for Public Health.
The results of the committee’s survey suggest that more day-to-day care is needed as well. It found that about 17 percent of our schools don’t have ready access to a licensed healthcare provider at all, while nearly half have one who is there part-time or on-call. Only a little more than a third have one onsite throughout the day.
If the districts hired additional nurses to provide what they think is adequate coverage, they would need to add more than 370 working on a full-time basis, according to the committee. That would increase the number currently working by more than half, and take us below the 750-students-per-nurse ratio recommended by the National Association of School Nurses.
When it comes to severe allergies, the best medicine is often prevention. The vast majority of school districts said they would make sure cafeteria staff is aware if any student had a food-based allergy. About two-thirds of the districts would provide a nut-free classroom if necessary, and a fourth would eliminate nuts from the school altogether.
This year, the state is taking further steps to improve the health needs of our youngest citizens. During the legislative session that ended in April, for example, the General Assembly adopted a prominent new law to extend better insurance coverage to children diagnosed with autism.
Those whose families are enrolled in large-group health insurance plans will now be eligible for up to $50,000 annually between their first and seventh birthdays, and $12,000 annually from then until they turn 21.
In the United States, one child in 110 is diagnosed with autism, and a 2006 study said that this applied to nearly 2,400 children in Kentucky. Research proves that proper treatment – the earlier the better – can result in near-miraculous results. Without that care, other research shows that the societal cost for each child could top $3 million over his or her lifetime.
In another healthcare-related matter, five- and six-year-old children entering public school this fall for the first time will now have to have a dental exam before next January, under a requirement that became law in 2008. This builds on other required health screenings for vision and immunizations.
The General Assembly made this possible to better tackle the ongoing problems we have seen in dental care. In 2001, state health officials found that a little more than 40 percent of two- to four-year-olds had untreated dental decay, which was nearly double the national average. Another survey several years ago discovered that most of our counties don’t have a pediatric dentist, and 15 only had one dentist for the county’s total population.
All of these health concerns, not to mention the problems caused by seasonal and now swine flu outbreaks, underscore the importance of doing even more to improve the health of our children in school. Our task as a state is to make sure all of our students can focus on academics while knowing that care, should they ever need it, is always close by.
If you would like to let me know your thoughts on this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My address is Room 329E, Capitol Annex, 702 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601.
You can also leave a message for me or for any legislator at 800-372-7181. For those with a hearing impairment, the number is 800-896-0305.
I hope to hear from you soon.
