Nashville health chief pushes for a nurse in every school

March 30, 2016 | The Tennessean

By Joey Garrison, jgarrison@tennessean.com

Nashville’s health chief wants Metro government to spend millions on an annual basis to ensure every public school in Davidson County has a full-time nurse.

Metro Public Health Director Bill Paul presented that plan to Mayor Megan Barry on Wednesday, noting that nurses typically have to jump from school to school each day to carry out physician-required medical treatments. He said around 30,000 of Nashville’s 86,000 students do not have an on-site nurse each day.

As a result, Paul said most schools are unable to supply registered nurses to meet needs of students who become ill or develop other unexpected health issues. Instead, he said the district is primarily only able to carry out those procedures ordered by doctors.

“Every child deserves a school nurse,” Paul said. “That’s our prescription for healthier and high-performing schools.”

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Photo courtesy of Flickr user Parker Knight under the Creative Commons license.