Celebrating School Nurses on National School Nurse Day

May 10, 2017, has been designated National School Nurse Day by the National Association of School Nurses. The Epilepsy Foundation is proud to join other organizations across the United States in honoring and recognizing the women and men charged with caring for the health of the students in their schools.

• The purpose of National School Nurse Day is to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting.
• The theme for National School Nurse Day 2017 is, “Healthy Nurse, Healthy Students.”

School nurses address a variety of medical issues from the mundane skinned knee to much more serious and well-known conditions such as asthma and diabetes. There are also students living with epilepsy who are in school every day with personnel who may or may not be well versed in seizure first aid.

Our Commitment

The Epilepsy Foundation is committed to providing school nurses with the training necessary to care for a student living with epilepsy. With the help of our nationwide network of local organizations, we have trained close to 50,000 school nurses in the United States and Puerto Rico using the Managing Students with Seizures: A Training for School Nurses program. Our goal is to ensure school nurses are equipped with the proper knowledge to care for a student living with seizures.

It is vital that school nurses feel empowered to know what to do if a student has a seizure in the school setting. Soon after the Epilepsy Foundation Long Island (NY) conducted a training for school nurses, a participant reported that a student had a seizure. Because of the training, everyone stayed calm and knew exactly how to care for the student.

Please join the Epilepsy Foundation in saying, “We salute you and thank you,” to every school nurse who has dedicated their lives to ensuring the health of students in their schools.

• We invite you to share your story about a school nurse who has or is caring for a student living with epilepsy.
• Tell us how they have made a difference on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #SND2017.