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Inder Sandhu, 8, almost has the routine down.
The La Rosa Elementary School third-grader has learned how to give himself an insulin injection, but needs help determining the right doses. Until he's self-sufficient, Inder gets help with his daily shot from the Ceres school's nurse, Tina Moss. A Sacramento judge recently ruled that only school nurses -- not other school staff -- can give diabetic schoolchildren insulin injections when the students or parents are not willing or able to do so. The decision applies to about 14,000 California students with diabetes, nearly 200 in Stanislaus County. It does not affect other medical shots, such as those for an allergic reaction. Though the state's shift in policy won't affect many students here, it does draw renewed attention to the shortage of nurses in public schools. Many school districts already limit those who can give the injections to nurses, such as in Turlock or in small, rural districts that contract with the Stanislaus County Office of Education for school nurses. Modesto City Schools also already limited shot administering to nurses. A 2007 state policy allowed trained school staff such as secretaries to give insulin shots. The rule was challenged by several nursing groups, including the California School Nurses Organization and the American Nurses Association; a Sacramento judge agreed with them last month. The decision shines the spotlight on the state's lack of school nurses. Gone are the days when every school had a nurse every day. Now, two or three campuses share a school nurse, with nurses a cell phone call away in case of emergency. That's the case in Ceres, Turlock and Modesto. Modesto City Schools employs 17 full- and part-time nurses to cover the district's 24 schools. School nurses handle a variety of tasks, including medical emergencies, daily monitoring of illnesses, health screenings, parent education and paperwork. In rare cases, 911 is called. "The medical needs of our students have just increased so much," said Aurora Licu- dime, chairwoman of school nurses at Modesto City Schools. "And medical technology advances -- babies who didn't used to make it are making it and coming down the pipeline." The issue also highlights the lack of health care professionals for Central Valley residents. California has one of the highest ratios of students to school nurses in the country -- 2,150 students to one nurse, according to the Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund. Bee staff writer Michelle Hatfield can be reached at
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or 578-2339.
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