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Join or Renew Your Membership

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  You need to be a registered member of VSSNA before we will grant you access to the VSSNA Ning site.  If you have not registered for VSSNA and/or have not paid your annual dues, you will not have access to the VSSNA Ning site.

10 Good Reasons You Should Join VSSNA

Mission

The mission of VSSNA is to advance the practice of School Nursing and provide leadership in the delivery of quality health programs to the Vermont school community.

The Goals of the Association:

• To operate exclusively as an educational organization on a nonprofit basis; to promote and advance the quality of school health services and health education throughout the State of Vermont.
• To encourage school nurse to serve as a resource person in the area of health to teacher and other personnel; to promote activities for the improvement of comprehensive health education.
• To assist members in obtaining and maintaining high professional school nurse practices within the total school program under the administrative direction of the superintendent and principal of the school or schools to which the nurse is assigned.
• To provide and to encourage its members to pursue continuing Education.
• To inform and advise members on matters that have a critical bearing on the professional status in relation to state nursing standards, laws and regulations.
• To cooperate with other professional organizations, civic groups, and community agencies for the improvement of provision of health services for school children.

What is School Nursing?

School nursing is a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well-being, academic success and life-long achievement and health of students. To that end, school nurses facilitate positive student responses to normal development; promote health and safety including a healthy environment; intervene with actual and potential health problems; provide case management services; and actively collaborate with others to build student and family capacity for adaptation, self-management, self advocacy, and learning. (NASN 2010)

VSSNA SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Scholarship can now be used for conferences, workshops, courses and certification

• Applicant must be a current member of VSSNA
• Applicant must be a licensed Registered Nurse in the state of Vermont
• Applicant must be currently employed as a School Nurse
• Scholarship cannot exceed 500 dollars
• Scholarship may be used within a 12 month time frame.
• Scholarship may only be received once
• Recipient will need to show proof of completion of course work and cost.
•  Conference /workshop fees and expenses receipt
• Certification fees and expenses receipt
• Recipient will receive a free VSSNA Conference

Application and required documents are below. For more information contact Mary Dunsmore at 802-524-4744 or mary.dunsmore@comcast.net.

VSSNA Continuing Education Scholarship Application

President's Message

February 2013

The second half of the school year is underway and state reports have been
completed. Following the completion of a second quarterly report for
administration and my superintendent, I can now focus on follow-ups to any referrals that were sent to families and reflect on the school year to date. For me, I have seen a shift in the type of visits to the health office from that of a
few years ago. With the recent violent incidents in some schools across the country, we can no longer ignore the fact that school safety is of concern to many. If each school nurse looked at their log at the end of the day, we all would likely see that the greatest number of health office visits are mental health related. NASN furthermore tells us that “the top 5 health problems of children in
the United States are now mental health problems, not physical problems. Approximately one in five children and adolescents has a diagnosable mental health disorder in the course of a year. Five percent have impairments in functioning that is severe.” It is not surprising then that school nurses spend 32% of their time providing mental health services. As a result, when school
budgets are up for discussion, please share this data. Talk to your local school boards. Let your school and community know what it is that you do to keep our youth safe. Additionally, as NASN states, “every teacher deserves a school nurse so they can teach. Every parent deserves a school nurse so they can feel confident that their child is safe at school and every student deserves a
school nurse so they can be healthy, safe and successful at school.” Let us all find ways to wrap services around our students so that they may grow to be respectful, healthy, and productive contributing members of our communities.

-- 
Lola Noyes, BSN, RN
President
Vermont State School Nurses' Association 
vssna.org@gmail.com
www.vssna.org