| If you plan on working in New York City as a school | | | | injections. Without a school nursing program on |
| nurse, you may reconsider your decision to enroll in a | | | | campus, what will happen to these children and those |
| school nursing program. If you are already enrolled in | | | | with potential emergency needs? Statistics prove |
| one, you may consider switching your major to | | | | that nearly half of all children have been diagnosed |
| another field of medicine. According to Jenny | | | | with some sort of chronic disorder or illness and that |
| Anderson, reporter for the New York Times, New | | | | many of them require some sort of daily medication |
| York City Mayor Bloomberg has proposed eliminating | | | | regimen. Without a school nurse, who is going to |
| nursing positions at schools with an enrollment of 300 | | | | take care of these children? Are teachers, staff, and |
| students or less. Mind you, when you are referring to | | | | principals expected to also assume legal responsibility? |
| public school enrollment numbers, these numbers are | | | | According to Judith Arroyo, president of the New |
| not necessarily equal to the actual number of | | | | York City nurses union, besides administering to daily |
| students attending a school. This is especially true in | | | | health problems of school children school nurses are |
| tightly budgeted schools, where funding is based on | | | | at the front line of defense when it comes to |
| enrollment numbers. If this passes, what additional | | | | diagnosing or recognizing serious viral outbreaks, such |
| risks involved in not having a medical professional | | | | as the swine flu (H1N1 virus), which was first |
| stationed at a school - especially in an uber-crowded | | | | reported to city health officials by a Catholic school |
| urban city such as New York. What happens in | | | | nurse. |
| emergencies? Will teachers be made responsible for | | | | According to Henry Fortier, associate superintendent |
| the health and safety of students? Even if a teacher | | | | for public policy and government programs for the |
| were given basic first aid instruction, who would | | | | New York Archdiocese, public testimony will not be |
| attend to the rest of the students while he or she is | | | | permitted. Therefore, in this writer's opinion, the |
| caring for the ill student? | | | | Mayor's proposal is another strategic political ploy to |
| After experiencing the life of a teacher in New York | | | | stir up the pot to get a lot of people worked up |
| City and elsewhere, in all likelihood, mayhem would | | | | over nothing. Indeed, this move of the Mayor's is |
| break out if the teacher is forced to care for ill | | | | another example of his reckless manner and hubris |
| students, rather than attend to their lessons. Without | | | | for strong arming his way through our weakened |
| a school nursing program, there is always the | | | | political stratum. |
| likelihood that students, especially the more brazen | | | | The bottom line is that it is probably not very |
| ones, will take advantage of the situation and feign | | | | prudent to enroll in a school nursing program in New |
| an illness or condition to distract the teacher during | | | | York at this time. If you are considering medicine, |
| important lessons or exams. Then there's always the | | | | there are many other opportunities, such as CNA, |
| inevitable mob mentality; in short order - classrooms | | | | RN, and PhD Nursing online programs, where your |
| in NYC will become places of bedlam - if they already | | | | education will lead to job security. NYC long ago lost |
| are not! What happened to the "no child will be left | | | | its battle for solvency, and Michael Bloomberg has |
| behind" legislature? Is this part of Obama's healthcare | | | | failed at his job despite his great success and brilliance |
| overhaul? | | | | when it comes to private enterprise. This nursing cut |
| Just to show you how much money our government | | | | is just another reflection of how poorly mismanaged |
| officials waste is that the Mayor provided a loophole | | | | our tax system is. Billions of dollars pass through the |
| for his proposal, which states that schools with | | | | hands of people who work off the books or run |
| children who require daily medical attention, e.g. | | | | cash businesses and never make it into the New |
| students taking medication that is administered by a | | | | York tax coffers. Raising taxes on gasoline, |
| licensed healthcare worker will be exempt. Haven't | | | | cigarettes, and snack foods hurts the consumer |
| we been hearing report after report as to how many | | | | more than it ever helps the state. If this were not |
| children are on controlled substances? Then there are | | | | true, New York would be in the black. |
| those, such as the diabetic child who may require | | | | |