Nebraska School Nurses Association

NASN's Virtual Hill Day--Email Your Member of Congress! Sample Letter Included

Posted almost 5 years ago by Megan Lytle MBA, MSN, RN

Children’s health and learning are linked. School nurses work as child health and safety experts at the intersection of health and education. NASN worked with Congressional champions to craft the NURSE Act (Nurses for Under-Resourced Schools Everywhere Act).

On May 8th, coinciding with School Nurse Day, the NURSE Act (S 1362/HR 2606) was introduced in the Senate and House concurrently. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and Representative Dina Titus (D-NV) are the lead sponsors of this important legislation for school nurses. The NURSE Act would give grants from the Department of Education to increase the number of registered school nurses in Title I schools where there does not already exist a school nurse.

NASN’s Virtual Hill Day will create momentum and show support for this important legislation to help children be safe, healthy and ready to learn. Your participation in NASN’s second Virtual Hill Day will show the ground swell of support the NURSE Act has across the country. Please tweet, email and call your Member of Congress and Senators using the samples messages (or feel free to use your own) May 21 - 23!

Sample Letter

Please copy and paste this letter to email to your Congressman or Senator – you can search here for your Congressman and your Senator.

Dear Congressman or Senator,

I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor the Nurses for Under-Resourced Schools Everywhere (NURSE) Act, HR 2606/S 1362 [please choose the House or Senate bill number depending who you are emailing]. As a school nurse, I know firsthand how important it is for children to have a registered nurse at school to take care of their health care needs.

The NURSE Act would give grants to increase the number of school nurses in Title I schools where there does not already exist a school nurse.

National data indicates 39 percent of public schools have a school nurse, while another 35 percent of schools have a school nurse who works part-time in one or more schools. This leaves another 25 percent of schools that do not have a school nurse at all. Wide ratio disparities exist from state to state, within states and school districts, and between urban and rural.

Children today face increased social and emotional issues; according to the CDC, 20 percent of children and adolescents experience some sort of mental disorder. School nurses spend one-third of their time providing mental health issues and are critical members of the mental health team.

For many of our nation’s children, the school nurse is the sole provider of access to health care. This makes the role of school nurses even more critical. School nurses operate in what some have termed the “Hidden Health Care System.” School nurses coordinate with families, schools, and providers to connect children to medical homes, which can help improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

The American Nurses Association has reported that when there is no registered nurse on the school premises, the responsibility to administer the necessary medications and treatments, and to appropriately monitor children’s health issues, fall on the shoulders of administrators, educators, and staff, who are ill‐prepared to perform these tasks.

Please ensure that our children are safe, healthy and ready to learn by Co-Sponsoring the NURSE Act.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]