Nurse

The NFS Health Office staff may send your child home or they may advise you to consult a doctor when your child has a fever. If the health office staff determines your child has a fever, you will care for your child in the health office until you can take your child home or to the doctor. The State guidelines for exclusion from childcare for fever are 101 degrees Fahrenheit or greater or an armpit temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or greater. Once your child is excluded from childcare due to fever, he or she must be free of fever for 24 hours before returning to childcare.

The NFS Health Office staff will send your child home and may advise you to consult a doctor if there is a fever with diarrhea/vomiting, or if your child is less than two months old. The health office staff cannot differentiate between diarrhea and vomiting caused by medication versus diarrhea and vomiting caused by illness; therefore, children with these symptoms will be excluded from childcare. Infants with documented cases of acid reflux who experience vomiting will be assessed by Health Office Staff to determine if other indications of contagious illness are present. Once your child is excluded from the childcare, he or she must be free of diarrhea or vomiting for 24 hours before returning to childcare. The following criteria are used:

• 3 diarrhea diapers in one school day
• 2 vomiting episodes in one school day

RSV can be serious in babies and toddlers. If your child shows symptoms of RSV in the childcare center, we ask that you have your child evaluated by his or her doctor to avoid spreading the viral illness to other children.

Rashes:

Children with undiagnosed rashes will be given a referral by the health office to see a doctor to be cleared of contagious illness. This referral must be returned to the health office and the childcare manager following your child’s appointment.

The NFS Health Office staff will recommend a doctor’s care for your child if your child has red, irritated eyes with yellow or green discharge. If your child has teary, watery eyes, your child may require a visit to a doctor if the health office staff determines the possibility of an eye infection. You will take a referral note from the health office requesting a response from your child’s doctor. The note must be returned to the NFS Health Office staff prior to returning your child to your childcare room. In the case of a 21 confirmed diagnosis of eye infection, your child must be under treatment 24 hours before your child can return to childcare.

Occasionally, a staff member will find lice on the head of a child enrolled in childcare. The presence of lice does not mean that the child has poor hygiene. Anyone can get lice including older siblings, parents, teachers of children who are infected and other children in childcare. Head lice are transmitted by direct contact with an infested person, or by the sharing of brushes, combs, hats, scarves, bedding, towels or upholstered furniture. A child enrolled in childcare with suspected lice will be examined for lice in the health office. If the health office staff finds lice on your child, your child will be excluded from childcare until you can show proof of treatment to the health office staff. The health office staff will advise you concerning treatment for lice. Upon return to school, the health office staff will re-examine your child before permitting your child to re-enter childcare.

If your child is absent from your childcare room for any illness you must check in with the health office before returning your child to your childcare room. When a child is sent home for diarrhea, vomiting or fever, health office staff will assess whether the child has experienced continued diarrhea, vomiting, or fever the previous 24 hours upon returning to school. The health office staff will give you a note permitting your child to enter childcare. Childcare staff will require written permission from your child’s doctor that he or she is well enough to attend childcare following an illness if it was a contagious illness or you received a referral to a doctor from the health office. Please return the referral you received from the school nurse, filled out by your child’s doctor. You must show this to the school nurse and to the childcare manager before returning your child to his or her childcare suite.