North Shore school health manual - Section 1

A Public Health Nurse from your community health unit is assigned to each school. The amount of time the nurse spends at your school depends on your school's needs and his or her availability.  To contact the nurse for your school, please call 604.983.6700.

Public Health Nurses work in partnership with schools, using a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) approach, to promote physical, emotional, and social well-being of children, youth, and their families.  For more information, visit Healthy Schools BC (website also available in French). 

Role of school public health nurse

Immunization and communicable disease control

• Immunize children against vaccine-preventable diseases at the appropriate age and provide booster doses as needed in the school and the community setting

• Respond to outbreaks of illness or disease in schools and community
  

Health education/capacity building

• Offer staff training to respond to emergency medical situations for students with life-threatening conditions

• Support school staff to teach health based curriculum on a wide range of topics

General health consultations

• Provide consultation and referral service for individual students and their families with an identified health issue

• Act as a support and resource to help students, families, and school staff access appropriate health services
  

Health promotion initiatives

• Support schools to address an identified school health issue using a comprehensive school health approach
  

Youth clinic services

A team of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians deliver free and confidential health services for youth on a drop-in basis in community youth clinics.