this Fall & Winter

National Association of School Nurses (NASN) President to Provide Advice on Keeping Families Healthy

Last years 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic affected millions of Americans and is a reminder of just how unpredictable flu can be. The flu can attack even healthy people, and sends 200,000 adults and children to the hospital each year.

Schools are a hotbed for viral activity, and as hard as parents may work to promote healthy habits at home (washing hands, sneezing into elbows, etc.), its difficult to protect kids while theyre at school. And if kids pick up flu at school, it comes traveling home to infect parents, siblings and grandparents, leading to a sick cycle.

Luckily, parents have resources school nurses are on the front lines of fighting flu. In fact, one of the earliest outbreaks of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu virus in the NYC school system was first identified by a school nurse.

Who:
Sandi Delack, BSCN, MEd, NCSN, President of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), a board certified, practicing school nurse

Flu Facts

Influenza affects five to 20 percent of the U.S. population each year.

Influenza infections are associated with substantial medical costs, more than 200,000 hospitalizations and thousands of deaths every year in the United States.

Children are two to three times more likely than adults to get sick with the flu.

Last year, pandemic H1N1 greatly affected children and young adults.

During last years H1N1 pandemic, 59% of the first hospitalized patients were in younger than 18 years old.

Families with school-age children have more flu infections than other families, on average one-third of family members are infected with flu each year. A study on the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus revealed that household members younger than 18 were twice as susceptible to infection as those 19 to 50 years of age.

This RMT is made available by Genentech. Genentech provided NASN support to assist in influenza education.

For more information, on handling flu in the school please visit www.NASN.org. Also at www.flufacts.com. You can sign up for local flu alerts so that you will know when flu activity is high in your zip code.

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