Health Services

Cedar Rapids Community School District health services enhances student success by decreasing health-related barriers to learning. The health services team helps students reach optimum health and enable them to achieve their fullest potential.

School health services contribute to the goals of the education system and the healthcare system by providing screenings and referrals, administering medications and treatments, providing first aid, providing health counseling and education, and supporting students with chronic health conditions to acquire self-management skills.

The school health services team consists of school nurses and health secretaries, working in partnership with the student, his/her parents/guardians and the student’s primary healthcare provider(s).

School nurses

School nursing is a specialized practice of nursing, which protects and promotes student health, facilitates optimal development, and advances academic success. School nurses, grounded in ethical and evidence-based practice, are the leaders who bridge health care and education, provide care coordination, advocate for quality student-centered care, and collaborate to design systems that allow individuals to develop their full potential. The school nurse’s role focuses on factors affecting a child’s learning in school.

The nurse interprets the student’s health care needs to school staff, manages medication administration, and helps in the assessment of physical, social, and emotional health. In addition, school nurses act as a health education resource for teachers, identify health and safety hazards in the schools, and offer health guidance to students and their families. School nurses may have one, and sometimes two, schools depending on student health needs.

Nurse practitioners

Some of our school nurses are also nurse practitioners who provide expanded school health services to students, such as physicals and immunizations, through Metro Care Connection, our school-based health clinics.