Tom Burton, Superintendent for Princeton City Schools, was a Keynote Speaker at the Ohio Association of School Nurses’ 49th Annual Conference in Columbus with over 150 school nurses in attendance. Mr. Burton played a video message from other superintendents across the state expressing gratitude and appreciation for the work school nurses do every day to keep students healthy, safe, and in their classroom seat learning. Conference speakers, many of whom were physicians, demonstrated the relationship between health and education and highlighted the school nurse’s role in disease prevention and management, health screenings, and health promotion. Dr. Sara Bode, Medical Director for Nationwide Children’s Hospital School Health Services, encouraged the school nurse attendees to partner and collaborate with a student’s medical home. She also emphasized the important role school nurses have in improving attendance, increasing attentiveness, decreasing drug use and violence, increasing mental health, increasing access to healthcare, and increasing academic success, referencing Ohio’s Whole Child Framework.
The Ohio Association of School Nurses promotes optimal wellness among Ohio's school children and their communities by supporting their educational success & providing leadership, education & support for the practice of school nursing.