Your children may want summer to last forever, but they will soon head back to school. Are you ready? Have your prepared a school health checklist? Children need to be healthy and alert in order to succeed in school. These five tips can give them a good start.
1. Call your child’s school and ask about required immunizations. Different schools have different requirements. Many school websites have a page of health-related requirements.
2. Your child’s doctor should perform a school physical. This physical can help identify health problems, including hearing and vision issues.
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3. Talk with your children about germs and how they spread. Teach them when and how to wash their hands properly. Make sure they know what to do when they cough or sneeze. They should carry tissues or, if necessary, sneeze into the inside of their elbow instead of in their hands.
4. Children fall out of their school routine during vacation. Don’t wait until the night before school begins to get back into a routine. Ease your children back into their sleep schedule by gradually imposing an earlier bedtime before school begins.
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5. Plan for sick days. Pediatricians stress that you should not send your child to school with a fever. A fever means the immune system is fighting a bug. Your child may be contagious to other children and adults. Have a plan in place for last minute sick child care.
About Patient First
Patient First currently operates 67 centers in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It opened its first facility in Richmond, Virginia in 1981 and developed many automation-based operating systems and practices that were considered innovative at the time and which have been continually improved to meet the needs of today’s patients.
