By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
May 4, 2003
Page Sikes, school nurse coordinator for the Meridian Public School District, says the role of school nurses has expanded over the years to involve much more than bandaging scraped knees.
She said school nurses see asthma, diabetes, cerebral palsy and other health conditions not as prevalent years ago.
Sikes, an editorial board guest of The Meridian Star this week, also talked about the financial challenges facing the local school nurse program and the outlook for next school year.
It appears there will not be as many nurses to care for the school district's students, which number about 7,000 but Sikes said efforts are being made to continue to pay nurses who had been funded through grants from The Riley Foundation.
The National Association of School Nurses has proclaimed May 7 as National School Nurse Day, which coincides with National Nurses Week, celebrated May 6-12.
See the complete interview with Sikes in Monday's edition of The Meridian Star.