1
This past October, the PASNAP
Board of Directors decided that our
newsletter, The Examiner, needed a
makeover. So we turned to our mem-
bership for help. We planned
on a new format, new fea-
tures and a new name.
A contest was presented
to members. Criteria was set
and entries were accepted
until December 15, 2012.
In January, the PASNAP
Board of Directors voted on
the name from all entries
who met the contest require-
ments. Thirteen suggestions
were considered. Interest-
ingly, we had three members
submit similar names. So, in addition
to the vote, a winner was selected based
on when the entry was received.
The PASNAP Board of Directors
is pleased to announce the PASNAP
newsletter preconference
winner is Joann Coleman, a
CSN in the Philadelphia Re-
gion. Our newsletter will
now be known as the
PASNAP Pulse.
JoAnn Coleman has
been a Certified School
Nurse for the past 27 years
for the Philadelphia School
District. She has worked at
the middle school level, as
well as the elementary school
level. During the summer
months she works with the Extended
And The Winner Is...
Day On The Hill: Nurses Speak Up!
Mark your calen-
dars! PASNAP will hold their
annual “Day on the Hill” on Tues-
day, March 12, 2013. This is an
opportunity for CSN’s from
across the state to visit Harris-
burg, meet with their legislators,
and share with them what we do
and how we care for the students
of Pennsylvania.
The day will begin with a
breakfast from 8 am to 10 am, to
be held in Room 148 of the main
Capitol Building. After the
breakfast, PASNAP leadership
will be meeting with key legislators
and all are encouraged to use this time
to visit your own state senator and
representative. This is a great oppor-
tunity to meet many of our legislators.
Be sure to call
his/her office
as soon as
you know that
you are at-
tending to set
up these im-
portant visits.
We will be providing
you with talking points about im-
portant issues .
Start talking to your administra-
Inside this issue
Expressing Empathy: A poem to the students of
Newtown ,CT
2
All PR is Local 2
Scholarship Funds Available 3
School Nurses: Key to
Success in Concussion
Protocol
3
Students “Kick Butt” with
T.A.T.U. : How I improved
my practice
4
Share and Win 6
Legislative Auction 6
Your Conference Packing
List. Last Minute Essentials 7
Effective Immediately:
Changes in Health Forms 8
President’s message 9
Go ahead, SMILE 10
Winter 2013
Joann Coleman, CSN
Continued on page 7
and request the time off to attend.
If you are planning to attend this
event, please RSVP to Nancy Kaminski,
legislative chair, at kamin-
[email protected] by March 1, 2013.
Final details will be provided early in
March. Nancy will forward the specifics
you will need on event times, where to
meet, and parking.
Please consider contacting school
nurses in neighboring districts to en-
courage them to attend with you. Con-
tact your Region Rep. for names of oth-
ers that you may be able to carpool
with. Remember, we have power in
numbers!
2
By Kathy Verbel
Hope is like a spark.
Once that spark is a fire,
The fire is Faith.
Faith makes a wild fire,
That wild fire is joy.
Which is now courage,
Which is beyond Hope,
Faith and Joy.
and even Fear
By Abbigail Cann, 5th grader,
Ms. Jones’ homeroom
All it took was three sentenc-
es in a memo that teachers shared
with their students in homeroom
Monday morning, the week be-
fore winter break.
With the approval from the
principal, I had an announcement
sent out to our classes. I asked for
donations of handmade cards or “
teddy bears” by the end of the week
to mail to Newtown, Ct. The idea
was to allow the 5th, 6th and 7th
grade students of Stroudsburg Mid-
dle School the chance to let the
children of Sandy Hook Elementary
know that they were in our thoughts
and prayers.
Expressing Empathy-
A poem to the students of Newtown, Connecticut
your community. No one
can tell the story of school
nursing—what we do, how
we do it, and why we do it--
better than you can.
While the idea of step-
ping into the public eye may
sound intimidating, anyone
can learn to do it. It just
takes a little preparation,
some practice and plenty of
passion. Here are some sug-
gestions of ways to get start-
ed. (You will find that you
are already doing many of
these things, but may not
have considered them PR.)
First, know your stuff. Do
a little reading and thinking
about issues facing the
health of school aged chil-
dren and the impact that
school nurses have on them.
Check out “The Case for
School Nursing” on the
NASN website for solid
talking points
(www.nasn.org/Home/
CaseForSchoolNursing ).
Remember to localize the
data: how many students
with autism, diabetes, or
asthma go to school in your
district? How many stu-
dents are classified as home-
less? How many are over-
weight or obese? Being
conversant with these facts
and figures will increase
your credibility and your
confidence.
Next, identify and connect
with your stakeholders. As
school nurses, our stake-
holders include our students,
of course, with whom we
connect every day. Their
families are also crucial
stakeholders. In additional
to the numerous phone con-
versations we have with
parents and guardians, we
can establish important rela-
tionships with families
through the PTO/PTA.
All PR is Local
By Susan KIrkpatrick
I first noticed the differ-
ences about five years ago.
My newspapers were chang-
ing. Big city newspapers began
closing their international news
desks. National and international
stories were relegated to the sec-
ond and third page. Local news
now dominated the front page.
According to the pundits, news
was being “hyperlocalized.”
Moreover, the big city Pennsyl-
vania newspapers were not inter-
ested in doing a story about
PASNAP’s School Nurse of the
Year, unless she was a “local
girl.”
This hyperlocalization of
the news means that while the
public relations work done by
NASN and PASNAP on the na-
tional and state levels is im-
portant, the most significant
spokesperson for school nursing
is you. You are the vital voice
for the health of the students in
Students at Stroudsburg Middle School
collected bears, made cards of condolence
and encouragement, and then sent them
to Newtown, Ct the week before winter
break.
NASN Member is winner
of ANA’s “ I am a Nurse, I
am a Leader” video con-
test! School nurse, Man-
dy Mayer from Vermont,
made the winning video.
highlighting school
nursing. View Mandy's
YouTube video online at
http://youtu.be/3OuCy-
34o68.
Kindergarten registration,
Back to School nights and
immunization clinics are other
examples of opportunities for
face-to-face interactions with
families. Have information on
your role as a school nurse
available to distribute at these
events. Our teacher and ad-
ministrator colleagues are
continued on page 9
Continued on page 5
The PASNAP Pulse
3
notified via telephone by June
1st. The award will be sent in
the student's name directly to
the college or university of the
winner's choice.
School Nurse Scholarships PASNAP will award 3
$500 awards to CSNs enrolled
in a graduate program with the
intention of continuing to prac-
tice in a school health setting
or an RN enrolled in a pro-
gram to become a Certified
School Nurse.
The purpose of the schol-
arships are to encourage and
support a CSN enrolled in a
graduate program who is a
Future School Nurse
PASNAP is proud to offer a
$1000 award to a high school
senior pursuing a BSN. This
scholarship was initiated in 2008
in memory of Richard Berritini,
a CSN who lost his life in 2008
serving for the National Guard in
Afghanistan. We continue this
scholarship in honor of all the
nurses who have learned that the
ability to care for others is a gift
you will have with you always.
In order to be eligible for the
award, the application must be
submitted and postmarked by
May 1st. The winner will be
member of PASNAP thereby
increasing advanced practice
nurses in the school setting
and encourage a RN to attain
his/her educational goals thus
increasing the number of
CSNs working in the school
health settings. Applicants
must demonstrate that they
have completed at least 6
credits of coursework and
must be in good academic
standing with their college/
university.
The need for financial
aid does not have to be estab-
lished . Each qualified appli-
cant will have an equal op-
portunity to win the
School Nurses: KEY to Success in Concussion Protocol
Scholarship Funds
By Brenda Eagan-Brown
It’s difficult to turn on the
news or read a newspaper arti-
cle without hearing about new
concussion research or impacts.
With this increase in public
knowledge, the BrainSTEPS
(Strategies Teaching Educators,
Parents, and Students) Program
has been working with PaT-
TAN to assist an ever increas-
ing number of students with
concussion return to school.
But, returning to the demands
of school too soon following
concussion can significantly
increase and prolong symp-
toms. This period of recovery
should be appropriately
planned for and supported by
school personnel.
Annually in PA, over 20,000
concussions occur in
children and adolescents.
BrainSTEPS is working to
build concussion capacity at
the local level, by assisting
districts in establishing re-
turn to school Concussion
Management Teams. The
intent is to build stronger
partnerships with all PA
school districts, and offer
support for the more diffi-
cult concussion cases.
A one hour Brain-
STEPS concussion webinar
was held in October entitled,
“Concussion in the Class-
room: Return to Learning.”
The webinar served as
the first step in preparing
school districts with an un-
derstanding of concussion
need for establishing aca-
demic Concussion Man-
agement Teams ( CMTs)
by following the 2012
BrainSTEPS Return to
School Concussion Rec-
ommended Protocol that
was unveiled. This webinar
and concussion handouts
are available at
www.brainsteps.net
To further prepare
districts to serve this rapid-
ly identified population of
students, the BrainSTEPS
Program is assisting dis-
tricts in establishing aca-
demic CMTs.
BrainSTEPS is offer-
ing academic CMTs con-
cussion training,
Continued on page 4
scholarship since it ill be a
random chance selection.
Applications are due by
March 15. Recipients are
expected to write a short
piece for the newsletter re-
flecting on how this award
will help them realize their
educational goals.
Find applications at
www.pasnap.org: Education
The PASNAP Pulse
By Brenda Eagan-Brown,
M.S.Ed, CBIS BrainSTEPS
Brain Injury School RE-Entry
Program Coordinator
4
School Nurses: KEY to Success in Concussion Protocol
Continued from page 3
ongoing guidance, and partner-
ships for all district CMTs who
register their CMTs at
www.brainsteps.net Eagan
believes that “school nurses
are the KEY to
this protocol's success. “
The CMT roles are simple.
They consist of two individu-
als: an Academic Monitor and
a Symptom Monitor.
The Symptom Monitor
utilizes the BrainSTEPS Stu-
dent Symptom Severity Moni-
toring Checklist with students
several times a week to evalu-
ate their current status. This
continues while students re-
main symptomatic.
The Academic Monitor
utilizes the BrainSTEPS Aca-
demic Monitoring Tool weekly
with relevant teaching staff .
They also continue monitoring
students as long as they remain
symptomatic.
“School nurses would
make fabulous Symptom Moni-
tors,” says Eagan, “ but we
need their help.” She is asking
all school nurses to “look over
the links about setting up
CMTs and other concussion
resources at
www.brainsteps.net
and then talk with their admin-
istrators about setting up a
CMT in your school.”
Benefits of registering your
team at
www.brainsteps.net include:
Each 2 person CMT will
be trained by BrainSTEPS
through a statewide video
conference that focuses on
the latest research and the
roles of the CMT.
“School nurses
would make
fabulous Symptom
Monitors,” says
Eagan, “ but we
need their help.”
Please share
your Aha moment
with us, that
“Moment”, when
you say to your
self “Why didn’t
I do it this way
before?”
A moment of
clarity, the
aha moment can
be a defining
moment where
you gain real
wisdom -
wisdom you can
use to change
your life &
others.
Students “Kick Butt” with T.A.T.U. How I improved my practice
This training will prepare
each CMT to manage
students’ concussions for
the initial 3-4 weeks,
when 80% of students
recover.
The CMT will receive
BrainSTEPS tools to ac-
curately and quickly
monitor academic and
symptom changes.
The tools are 1 sided,
easy to use, and were
created to assist districts
in gathering the data
needed to determine
when student concussion
no longer impact educa-
tion.
Continued on page 5
By Ellen Orben, RN, CNS, MSN Delaware Valley High School T. A. T. U. club advisor
For the past past 16 years, I
have been the advisor of the
Teens Against Tobacco Use
(T.A.T.U.) club at Delaware
Valley High School. As the
school nurse, students would
come to me and complain about
how badly the bathrooms
smelled of tobacco smoke.
When I heard about the
T.A.T.U. program, I thought
this would be a wonderful club
to get teenagers involved in,
plus it was something that I was
passionate about. T.A.T.U. was
developed in 1996 by the Amer-
ican Cancer Society, the Ameri-
can Heart Association and the
American Lung Association as
part of the Smoke-Free Class of
2000 initiative.
The program is de-
signed to train teenagers to
teach elementary students
about the negative aspects of
tobacco use. We also explain
how tobacco companies try to
brainwash young people into
buying tobacco products
through advertisements and
gift promotions. Promotions
are solely aimed at increasing
sales without regard to known
health hazards and the addic-
tion associated with smoking.
Fifty -two high school
students, divided into ten
groups, participate in the pro-
gram. The students are re-
sponsible for developing their
own lesson plans for their
presentations. The presenta-
tions, approximately 45
minutes in length, are given to
students in grades 2 - 5 and
include small and large group
discussions, skits, word
searches, role playing and
puppet plays. Financial sup-
port from a Pike County Tobac-
co Coalition grant has supplied
us with visual aids, puppets,
videos and t-shirts for T.A.T.U.
members.
The T.A.T.U. club has been
an enormous success. The high
school students are very enthu-
siastic about their participation
and are very well received by
the elementary students. Evalu-
ations completed by the class-
room teachers have all been
very positive. The program is
not only beneficial to the
younger children, but also helps
the teen participants to become
leaders, to accept responsibility
and to develop the information
and skills needed for success.
Even the quietest, most reserved
students take an active role in
our presentations helping them
to be more outgoing.
Continued on page 5
The PASNAP Pulse
5
Continued from page 2
By Wednesday afternoon six
assorted stuffed toys had been
dropped off in the nurse’s office
by students, along with a few
cards.
I had planned to get a flat rate
box to pack them up to go out the
next day.
But plans change.
That Thursday morning, the staff
received an email from the prin-
cipal She encouraged everyone
to come to the office conference
room to look at the “ bears” be-
fore they were packed to be
mailed to Newtown.
Busy as we are in our offices,
I had not thought to go into
the main office to seek out any
other donations that might
have been dropped off for the
drive before the principal’s
memo arrived.
As I entered the conference
room, my eyes literally filled
with tears. I was overcome
with emotion. What I found
was a menagerie of more than
50, soft, lovable stuffed
animals. In addition, there
were stacks of cards, hand
drawn pictures, posters and
poems with sentiments of
sympathy and encouragement
from entire classes and indi-
vidual students, all waiting to
be shipped to Connecticut in
expressions of empathy.
Cathi Cohen, LCSW in her
article “Empathy -I Feel
Your Pain” – defines empa-
thy as the capacity to feel and
think what another feels and
thinks by observing cues and
then responding appropriate-
ly.
Expressing Empathy-
School Nurses: KEY to Success in Concussion Protocol Continued from page 4
Although the vast majority of
students recover within the first 3-4
weeks, many have lingering effects
for months, years are even a lifetime.
For those students not recovering
during the initial 4 week trajectory, a
student referral to the local Brain-
STEPS Program should occur.
Each academic CMT will be
partnered with their regional Brain-
STEPS Team for ongoing assistance
and referrals at 4 weeks, for students
who do not recover, or earlier if the
concussion is more complex.
The BrainSTEPS Teams have
been extensively trained and
For further details visit
www.brainsteps.net
“Being able to walk in the
shoes of another person is
a critical life skill. Empath-
ic children become caring
adults.” “The ability to
empathize is a highly com-
plex skill.”
The school setting offers
children many opportuni-
ties to learn and express
empathy. School nurses
can encourage and help
teach this life skill. Co-
hen lists steps to follow to
help promote empathy in
children.
Continued on page 8
Continued from page 4
Our club has also been in-
volved with legislative as-
pects of anti-smoking laws
and regulations. We have
visited legislators in Harris-
burg as well as our local rep-
resentatives and were very
active in the Smoke-Free
Workplace efforts. We visit
the Pike County Commis-
sioner’s meeting annually to
applaud their efforts in
Students “Kick Butt” with T.A.T.U. How I improved my practice
with resources, information and of-
fer individualized training .
BrainSTEPS will create an aca-
demic Brain Injury Supports
Framework to pair symptoms
with needed accommodations to
promote faster recovery.
Each CMT will be kept up to
date on the latest concussion research
pertaining to return to school via
BrainSTEPS Program in an ongoing
manner. Please contact your school
district administrators and provide
them with this information about
how to set up an academic CMT uti-
lizing BrainSTEPS support.
Continued on page 7
and are prepared to assist schools
in managing student concussions
that linger past the four week
typical recovery trajectory.
The BrainSTEPS Teams bring a
wealth of information, guidance and
educational strategies based on their
ongoing training, experience work-
ing with this population of students,
and support from the statewide
BrainSTEPS Program Coordinator.
BrainSTEPS will provide the stu-
dent’s team of teachers and parent
The PASNAP Pulse
keeping our county smoke-
free. Right now we are work-
ing on “Through With
Chew” and “Kick Butts Day”
activities. The students do a
terrific job and all of us at
DV applaud their efforts
toward a smoke-free
America.
Check out this link to view
a PSA by DV T.A.T.U. club
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=f3wad59psSU
6
Poster Presentations…
Share your ideas and become a winner!
By Cheryl Mattern
Whether you are a veteran
school nurse or a relative
novice, you know things that
other nurses would love to
learn. Share your ideas and
programs at PASNAP’s annual
poster presentation!
Participation is simple:
1. Using a standard 36” by
48” presentation trifold, create
a poster featuring some facet of
your practice.
2. Develop a handout convey-
ing the important concepts of
your poster. (Plan for approxi-
mately 300 nurses to attend the
conference.)
Bring your poster and
handout to PASNAP’s annu-
al conference at State Col-
lege in April, where it will be
displayed for other nurses to
browse and learn.
All contributors will be given
a Certificate of Participation
to include in your profession-
al portfolio.
In addition, the names of all
participants will be included
in a special drawing for free
attendance at the 2014
PASNAP Conference in State
College, March 28-30, 2014
Here are some poster ideas:
—Your best bulletin board
--A health education program
you presented for students,
staff, or parents
—Implementation of an im-
munization clinic
--An inservice session for
other school nurses
—An innovative way to ad-
dress school health challenges
—Your original research
Its simple. Just complete the
registration form below and
send to Cheryl Mattern via
email :
Then let those creative juices
flow and share the results
4/12/13.
PASNAP’s Annual Poster Presentation April 12 and 13, 2013
Name of participant:_____________________________________________
Email:_____________________________________________
Phone:____________________________________________
Please email entry to : [email protected]
The PASNAP Pulse
Legislative Auction: Baskets & Donations Needed
By Nancy Kaminski
The legislative com-
mittee will be holding a
Chinese auction during
the annual educational
conference at the Penn
Stater. This has been a
popular conference ac-
tivity and is our primary
source of PAC (political
action committee) fund
donations.
Money from the PAC
fund helps to support
candidates who support
school nursing and the
children’s issues that we
support. Over the years,
we have had some great
items available – an
AED, a laptop computer,
jewelry, paintings, quilts,
and gift baskets of all
types to name a few.
Items for auction will
be on display and tickets
will be sold during meals
on Saturday of the confer-
ence, with winners drawn
as part of our evening pro-
gram.
If you would like to
donate an item for the auc-
tion, please bring it to the
registration desk on Friday
evening. Sheets of tickets
will be sold for $10, each,
each sheet containing 25
chances.
“Building
Relationships for
Student Success “
April 12 -14, 2013
Penn Stater
Conference Center
State College,PA
Register now at
www.pasnap.org
7
Continued from page 1
School Year programs
providing nursing service to
the students with special
needs. “How did I
come up with the name The
PASNAP Pulse? “ said Jo-
Ann. “ I once
had a conversation with an-
other school nurse and we
were talking about our
school administration.
The nurse stated that her
Principal has her finger right
on the pulse. I took that to
mean that her Principal
knew everything that was
happening at that school.”
“Therefore, I submit-
ted the name The Pulse to
signify everything that is
happening in the state of
Pennsylvania that con-
cerns Certified School
Nurses and Practitioners.
Adding PASNAP to The
Pulse makes it all that
much more relevant to
o u r o r g a n i za t i o n . ”
When notified that
Friday Preconference
April 12, 2013
Sessions run from 1:30-5:00.
Topic selections include:
Evidence Based Manage-
ment of Sports Concussion:
What are we Learning?
Child Abuse – Making the
Call: Clinical and Legal Is-
sues for the School Nurse as
a Mandated Reporter
Traumatic Brain Injury & its
Visual Consequences
she was our contest win-
ner, JoAnn voiced excite-
ment at having her sub-
mission be selected. She
thanked everyone who
voted for her entry.
And the winner is...
School Nurses: KEY to Success in Concussion Protocol
How to establish and register an academic Concussion
Management Team:
Schools should identify 2 individuals to serve on the CMT (an Academic Monitor and a
Symptom Monitor).
The CMT can be per district or per school building (preferred). Schools may also choose to
have one CMT per grade (i.e., 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th).
CMTs can be made up of any educational professional such as school psychologist, school
nurse, social worker, guidance counselor, 504 coordinator or teachers.
School administrators are to register their CMTs at this website: www.brainsteps.net.
Register each CMT separately.
Training will be online. Each CMT monitor will be able to watch the video training from their
own office
Continued from page 5
The BrainSTEPS Pro-
gram is funded by the PA
Department of Health and the
PA Department of Education
and implemented by the
Brain Injury Association of
PA.
For further information go
to the website
www.brainsteps.net
or contact:
Brenda Eagan Brown
email: [email protected]
Your conference packing list. Last minute essentials to remember
Hope you’ll be joining us at the
PASNAP conference on April
12. Here are a few items you
won’t want to forgot to pack.
A bathing suit. Yes, there
is a pool & a whirlpool.
Ahh...
Sneakers for the morning
walks
Saturday we’ll be stepping off
at 6:15. Sunday it’s 7:00. This
event, sponsored by School
Health, earns participants a
spiffy School Nurse T-shirt.
Mittens and a scarf for
those early walks. It can
feel cold starting off till
you work up a sweat.
A donation for the Legis-
lative Auction. Our PAC
needs your support. Funds
raised from your donations
are used to finance our
Legislative Consultant
activities and events on
our behalf like Day on the
Hill. No dues are used.
Extra cash to spend on
auction tickets. It’s for
a good cause & fun
too!
Business cards & ad-
dress labels– With lots
of peers and vendor
tables, it makes it much
easier to share info.
The PASNAP Pulse
8
lary of feelings
Step Three: Help children tune in
to the body language and facial
expressions of others.
Step Four: Teach children to
respond empathetically to others.
Step Five: Highlight charac-
ters’ feelings and motives in books,
on TV, and in movies. Empathy
skills can be taught.
School nurses can take an ac-
tive role in helping students learn
Continued from page 5
The following are some steps
Cohen notes in her article, to help
children develop empathy. Cohen
points out that this is an area where
it’s truly important that you model
appropriate behavior.
Step One: Prompt children to
think about the feelings and reac-
tions of others.
Step Two: Help children devel-
op a larger, more detailed vocabu-
these vital life skills. Some of these
things you may already be doing
with students unconsciously. Others
may be adapted
into your daily
routine easily.
Either way, Co-
hen notes your
efforts can go a
long way in mak-
ing a child feel
heard.
President’s Message
Expressing Empathy-
Building Relationships able to take the time to take a few
minutes to stop and reflect on Valen-
tine’s Day and what student or situa-
tion you have been able to make a dif-
ference for in their lives. For some
students it may be taking care of them
for a minor injury or illness, but for
other’s it is the tireless work that often
goes on behind the scenes towards
building that “healthy safety net” and
holistic care for a child that often oc-
curs so seamlessly that it often goes un
-noticed. For some, our “Valentines”
may be visible with a special bandaid,
sticker or tooth fairy container that a
child proudly goes back to class to re-
mind the student that they have a safe
place to come when they need care.
For other students, this care may not be
so evident as we work behind the
scenes to build bridges, resources and a
wide variety of medically related care
plans behind the scenes. Our display
of “valentines” may not always come
with a physical card, but by the actions
and care that we provide each and eve-
ry day for the students and our school
community that we service. If you
know of a person who has truly made a
difference in a very special way for the
care of students we would love or to
have you share their
good works in a short article for our
PASNAP Pulse. We are hoping that
by sharing short articles of tips ac-
complishments, these good deeds
might be spread to other school
nurse’s throughout the state. Some-
times just a tip to organize paper-
work, computerization tips or crea-
tive approaches to advertising
healthy habits could help another
school nurse develop a special pro-
gram or activity that meets the needs
of their students they serve.
So many of us get so busy with
everyday activities that we often for-
get to take the time to “stop and
smell the roses.” I challenge you in
the month of February, the month of
both Valentine’s Day and Heart
Month, to take the time to care for
yourselves. Take a moment to close
your eyes, picture your favorite
place, a peaceful moment and reflect
on the many “Valentine’s gifts “ that
you provide each and every day to
your own school students and com-
munity. May you take the time to
smell your special roses. May this
moment bring you peace and joy and
give you the energy to continue the
work that each and every one of you
do to make a difference in the life of
all the children that you care for.
As our school year quickly
passes, it is hard to believe that our
wintery weather should soon be
turning to warmer, more spring-
like days. Along with warmer
weather come thoughts of excite-
ment, as our PASNAP Board has
been very hard, planning and pre-
paring for our upcoming annual
State School Nurse’s Conference.
This year the theme of our up-
coming conference will be
“Building Relationships for Stu-
dent Success.” I am hoping that all
of you will consider attending this
year and being able to network and
connect with fellow friends and
colleagues over the dates of Fri-
day, April 12, 2013-Sunday, April
14, 2013. This year our preconfer-
ence is sure to cover many hot top-
ics as well as several sessions of
how to take care of ourselves as we
journey towards building relation-
ships and success with students.
` I hope that each one of you is
Karen Flad
PASNAP
President
The PASNAP Pulse
9
continued from page 2
another significant group of
stakeholders. Every August, the
nurses in my district prepare our
staff to handle classroom emer-
gencies during a presentation at
our general staff meeting. We
use humor, music, and bad act-
ing to make our message memo-
rable. This has become the most-
anticipated event of the first
week of school, and it has gener-
ated positive PR for the nurses.
Flu shot clinics, staff health
fairs, and CPR classes are other
ways to connect with this group.
Please do not neglect to de-
velop positive relationships with
the school board of directors of
your district. Attend school
board meetings and introduce
yourself to the board. Consider
developing an annual presenta-
tion for the board, featuring a
special program you have devel-
oped or perhaps a description of
the proactive methods you used
to achieve 100% immunization
compliance. They probably will
not know what their district
nurses have been up to if you do
not tell them. Connecting with
the community at large will
require you to reach out a
little more. If you are fortu-
nate enough to have a public
relations person on staff at
your district, do not hesitate to
make use of his or her exper-
tise. Try to include school
nurse information in the
newsletter your district mails
out to the community. Moni-
tor your local newspaper to
discover the reporters who
write about topics linked to
health and education, and
email them to pitch an idea
for a story about student
health and school nurses.
Alternatively, identify the
reporter who is covering your
district’s school board meet-
ing and establish a relation-
ship. Be sure to clear any
media contact with your dis-
trict administrators to prevent
any missteps or misunder-
standings. If you belong to a
local or county school nurse
organization, consider ap-
pointing a public relations
person within the group.
Letters to the editor are a
great way to get school nurs-
ing issues into the newspaper.
A letter can address an article
previously published or a cur-
rent health issue. Keep the
letter positive in tone, succinct,
and focused on a single topic to
increase the likelihood that it
will be published.
I know you are thinking,
“I’m way too busy to do all
those things!” I agree that do-
ing everything described above
might require you to clone
yourself! The point is to think
“public relations” as you do
what you do everyday. You
will find you have many oppor-
tunities to let the community
know all the ways school nurs-
es help kids succeed.
Susan is the CSN of an
elementary school in South
Central Region.. She currently
serves on the PASNAP Board
as Secretary and Public Rela-
tions Committee Chair. In her
practice she truly advocates for
school nursing, Susan has spo-
ken with parent groups, school
administrators, legislators and
the media to help promote the
message of what school nurses
do in order to make the needs
of our PA students known.
School Dental Record
Private Dentist Report
Order these new forms by the num-
ber of forms you need, not by num-
ber of packets. Order in increments
of 50 forms (i.e. 50, 100, 150, etc.)
Please deplete existing supply
before ordering new forms.
School Health forms may be or-
dered:
On-line (preferred):
www.health.state.pa.us/
schoolhealth, on the “School
Health Forms- Welcome”
page.
By Mail or Fax:
Please allow 4 - 6 weeks for
Beth Anne Bahn, RN, CSN, CRNP
Director Division of School Health
Beginning immediately, the January
2013 order form is the only order
form which will be accepted by
mail or fax. This form is available
on the school health website,
(www.health.state.pa.us/
schoolhealth) on the “ Publications
and Documents” page.
The only school health forms avail-
able to order are:
School Health Record (NEW-
1/1/13)
Physical Examination (School/
Private) (NEW– 1/1/13)
Progress Notes (NEW–1/1/13)
delivery. Place orders in advance of
anticipated need. If an order is not
received within 6 weeks, Do not reor-
der forms. Contact the Division of
School Health at (717) 787-2390.
(Please type or print legibly. Incom-
plete or unreadable order forms will
not be filled.)
Forms and manuals are available on
the School Health website
www.health.state.pa.us/schoolhealth.
Click on “Screening Programs” to
view/print screening manuals.
Click on “Examinations” to view/print
dental and physical examination
forms.
To order “Certificate of Immunization
cards Call the Division of Immuniza-
tions at 717-787-5681.
All PR is Local
Effective Immediately: Changes in School Health Forms
The new order form
is available at
www.health.state.pa.
us/schoolhealth) on
the “ Publications &
Documents” page.
“Think public
relations as you do
what you do
everyday.”, says
Kirkpatrick
Opportunities to have your message heard:
Back to school night
School Board and
Faculty Meetings
Daily interactions
with parents and other community members
Newsletters and
district websites
The PASNAP Pulse
10
Especially for fans of the hundred acre wood
Go ahead….
SMILE
PASNAP Pulse Staff
Kathy Verbel ...Editor
Cindy Stanton
Charity Istone
President
Karen Flad
President Elect Conference Coordinator
Cheryl Peiffer
Secretary Susan Kirkpatrick
Treasurer Melissa Bechtel
NASN Director Judy Morgitan
CSN at Large Mary Ann Canales
NP at Large Charity Istone
Past President Cheryl Mattern
Do you have a story or anecdote you are willing
to share with your peers?
-a heart warming narrative
-a student comment that made you to grin from ear to ear
-a wonderful resource in the community, on the web, or for your
smart phone
-a new way of doing something ( or an old way that still works
great!)
-an award or accomplishment that made you proud
Send to [email protected] “attention newsletter “
Who loves you, baby?
PASNAP!
PASNAP Executive Council
2012-2013
The PASNAP Pulse
Some humor can only
be best appreciated by a
nurse. These items were
found on Pinterest on a
nursing board.