SCHOOL NURSE
Meet our School Nurse Jenny Klein
who you will find in our First Aid room between
10:30 -2:30pm each school day.
We are fortunate to have a Registered Nurse on staff to support the physical and emotional wellbeing of our students, and provide professional learning for our staff in health and wellbeing related topics (eg: anaphylaxis and asthma). Our school nurse is funded solely from Parent Contributions. The hours we are able to employ the nurse each day, is directly influenced by the number of families who contribute to this valuable resource.
The Silent Killer
I would like to share a story in the hope that it draws attention to the dangers of summer.
I was sitting in this man made water lagoon, watching families and children enjoying cooling off from a 90% humidity summers day. It was the school holidays and the locals were mixing with the tourists. The lifeguards were everywhere and there was lots of laughter.
A little girl caught my attention. She was doing what most kids like to do, bounce up and down testing her ability to push off the bottom and seeing how high she could get. She was not aware of the drop off ahead of her. As she bounced, she was getting deeper and less confident. My hat flew off, I grabbed it out of the water and looked up. The little girl had disappeared. There was no noise, no splashes of panic, no screams for help, and it had happened in a blink of an eye. She just disappeared. Thankfully I was only a couple of steps away from her and the lifeguard was one step behind me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up.
The lifeguard later informed me that the little girl was 10 years old, had been doing swimming lessons and her parents thought that it was safe to leave her whilst they set up for a BBQ that they had planned with friends and family whom they had not seen for 2 years.
As I write this Laurie Lawrence was on the TV concerned that the last 2 years of lockdown has resulted in kids being behind in water abilities and parents have not had the opportunity to refresh their first aid skills. An issue that cannot be fixed in the next 6 weeks.
It is a good reminder that Pool fences are only a deterrent, swimming between the flags is actually being responsible, lifeguards are not babysitters and the constant spring rain has meant the ocean is unpredictable, dams are full and rivers are running very fast.
Please take some time to review CPR online if you are a bit rusty and information on keeping your children safe around water, it can save lives. The links below may be a useful start.
Royal Life Saving Society - Australia
Have a wonderful holiday, stay safe and don’t forget to stop and enjoy life.
Jenny Klein