LIVERMORE FALLS — School directors voted to add a half-time nurse for the rest of the school year to help the district’s nurse Annie O’Shea handle an greater workload.

Regional School Unit 36 has three schools in Livermore and Livermore Falls as well as the Cedar Street Learning Complex in Livermore Falls, which serves students in special programs. It is also where Central Office and Head Start programs are located.

The district has had two students at the Livermore Elementary School diagnosed with diabetics and are insulin dependent and need close monitoring and testing throughout the day, O’Shea told the school board Thursday.

There are also three students at the high school who are insulin dependent and need monitoring, she said.

In addition to that, O’Shea said she and volunteer nurses and Dr. Michele Knapp just gave 380 shots of seasonal flu vaccines and ran out before they could get to the kindergarten.

The state had recommended ordering enough vaccines for one-third of the student population, but about half of the population put in for it, O’Shea said.

She also needs to do H1N1 vaccinations, which will come in nasal spray form, she said, and give the kindergartners their vaccines, she said.

She also has her regular work to do including checks for vision impairment and scoliosis screening.

O’Shea said she and Superintendent Judith Harvey talked about the situation and decided more help is needed.
“We really need to meet the health needs of our kids,” O’Shea said.

“We don’t know exactly how much it will cost,” Harvey said.

The district still has money in the budget since Darren Akerman resigned as the elementary school assistant principal and curriculum director. Those positions will not be replaced this year, she said.

She would like to put a nurse full time at the elementary school and have a half-time nurse to cover the middle and high school campuses, Harvey said.

But they have not decided if the half-time nurse will be at the elementary school with O’Shea covering the other part of the district, or if O’Shea will be at the elementary school full time and the half-time nurse handle the upper grades, Harvey said after the meeting.

The hours could be flexible depending on what schools they will cover, she said.

“We can also work with the person hired to try to accommodate their preferences so long as our needs are met,” Harvey said. “We don’t yet know which schools Annie will cover and which the part time person will.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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