Turkey Hill Elementary School Health Office
Elizabeth Schatia BSN, RN, NCSN
eschatia@lunenburgschools.net
129 Northfield Road - Lunenburg, MA 01462
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Emergency forms are now completed online and sent electronically! Please complete this for your child every year. You can find the form here. Note: It is recommended that you complete this form on a computer and be aware that it can only be completed in one sitting.
Emergency forms are now completed online and sent electronically! Please complete this for your child every year. You can find the form here. Note: It is recommended that you complete this form on a computer and be aware that it can only be completed in one sitting.
Physical Exams
In accordance with state mandates, a copy of a physical exam (conducted within the last 12 months) is required for all students in Grade 4. If your child has had a "well visit" recently, please send a copy of the form to the Health Office via one of the following:
Email: Elizabeth Schatia
Fax: (978) 582-4109
Backpack: Send a hard copy in a sealed envelope addressed to "School Nurse”
Massachusetts State Law (105 CMR 200.000)
Medication Policy and Procedure
All medication dispensed at school must be accompanied by the medication order form, completed by the prescriber and signed authorization by the parent/guardian.
All medication orders must be renewed as needed and at the beginning of each school year.
All medication must be delivered to the school nurse by the parent or responsible adult whom you designate, in a pharmacy or manufacturer-labeled container. Please ask your pharmacy to provide separate bottles for school and home. No more than a thirty day supply of the medicine should be delivered to the school.
Any over the counter medication will require a doctor’s order and written parent/guardian permission to be on file prior to being administered.
Children are not permitted to carry prescription, non-emergency medications.
THES Medication Forms
THES Medication Forms
Fare Allergy Action Plan - English
Respiratory Virus Guidelines 2024/2025
On March 1, 2024, the CDC released updated CDC Respiratory Guidance including COVID-19. This new guidance is for respiratory viruses like Influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 as they share similar transmission methods, symptoms, and prevention strategies. This unified approach aims to simplify recommendations and address common risks more effectively. The MA DPH recently updated its guidelines to match the CDC guidelines.
The new CDC and MA DPH guidance for respiratory viruses:
When you have ANY respiratory virus - stay home and away from others if you have respiratory virus symptoms. These symptoms can include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headache, among others.
Return to normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:
Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medications).
When you go back to your normal activities, take added precautions over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you are around other people indoors.
Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that makes you sick, even if you are feeling better. You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.
HOW HAS ISOLATION GUIDANCE CHANGED?
The updated Respiratory Virus Guidance recommends that people stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both their symptoms are getting better overall, and they have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medications). Note that depending on the length of symptoms, this period could be shorter, the same, or longer than the previous guidance for COVID-19.
It is important to note that the guidance doesn’t end with staying home and away from others when sick. The guidance encourages added precaution over the next five days after time at home, away from others, is over. Since some people remain contagious beyond the “stay-at-home” period, a period of added precaution using prevention strategies, such as taking more steps for cleaner air, enhancing hygiene practices, wearing a well-fitting mask, keeping a distance from others, and/or getting tested for respiratory viruses can lower the chance of spreading respiratory viruses to others.
Multiple options were considered for adjusting isolation guidance at different lengths of time. In addition to fewer people getting seriously ill from COVID-19 and having better tools to fight serious illness, the CDC considered other factors such as the personal and societal costs of extended isolation as well as the timing of when people are most likely to spread the virus (a few days before and after symptoms appear). The updated guidance is easy to understand, practical, and evidence-based, as well as more aligned with long-standing recommendations for other respiratory illnesses.
In addition to the CDC’s Respiratory Virus Guidance, there were several special considerations added on March 27, 2024, for people with certain risk factors for severe illness, including older adults, young children, people with weakened immune systems, people with disabilities, and pregnant people.
To read the complete report, click here. Also, the CDC has created an information FAQ page for the new respiratory guidance, available here.
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