LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Nurses Association (KNA) is asking the state legislature for $18 million to put a nurse in every school.
Eva Stone, who has worked as a school nurse for more than 20 years, represented KNA earlier this month in Frankfort, asking legislators to invest in school nurses.
“If we don’t do it in a pandemic, when will we?” she said. “A lot of people just assume their children have access to a school nurse, and that's a very dangerous assumption to make because that's not the case."
Twenty-nine school districts don’t have a nurse at all, according to data from Kentucky Department of Education. The districts that do sometimes have one nurse covering multiple schools.
Stone said that's not enough, especially in a public school system that has more than 120,000 kids with chronic health conditions statewide.
“We're talking about things like life-threatening food allergies, talking about asthma, diabetes, seizures," she said. "That is a school safety issue."
Stone said when you add those factors with a pandemic, the current needs are critical. Plus, many disadvantaged students don’t have regular access to health care and school nurse are their main resource for care.
"That's what I've seen: We've become the default caregivers for kids who just don't have access to care like others do," she said.
The KNA argues having one nurse per school will lead to better care and better relationships with students, which can be an added benefit when it comes to mental health.
“Sometimes, kids who are experiencing things like depression, anxiety, they may not feel comfortable at first to go see a counselor or mental health provider in their school, but they might start with the school nurse," Stone said. "Or, a lot of times, kids will have symptoms that are related to mental health — stomach aches, headaches, those kind of vague symptoms — but when the nurse sees them does an assessment, it really filters out that that child is having something that's a mental health-related need."
The $18-million KNA is asking for over the next two years would make part-time nurses full time and hire any additional nurses needed.
Stone believes with the current surplus and the state’s school-based Medicaid billing, this is a doable change.
"A few years ago, Kentucky amended their state medical plan that allowed for expanded Medicaid billing, which is separate from regular Medicaid. It's just school-based Medicaid billing," she said. "And Kentucky amended the state plan to allow for that expanded billing. It's all federal dollars. We have a process that can help school districts create a sustainable model to have nurses in the school. ... Why wouldn't we take advantage of that and make sure that every child has access to a nurse every day?”
She said no legislator has ever told KNA having a nurse in every school is a bad idea, but it's always come down to funding. Stone is hopeful this time will be different.
“It’s just a critical time in Kentucky to make a decision on what’s best for our kids," Stone said.
The Kentucky legislature will approve a two-year budget plan this session.
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