Cancer and Children: What Schools Can Do To Help

Each year, tens of thousands of children are diagnosed with cancer. One of the best psychological and emotional treatments is to allow the child (if physically capable) to continue to attend school. Allowing the child to be with his or her peers, to continue on with a daily routine and schedule, will often lead to positive psychological effects. To make this happen, the family, treatment facility and school need to “team” to come up with a practical plan. The team should include the child, the parent(s) or guardian(s) and cancer treatment facility staff. Many treatment facilities have family social workers, case managers, nurses, doctors and educational specialist that are capable of participating on this team. The child’s school counselor, school social worker and school nurse are capable of representing the school. It’s not necessary, in most cases, of getting everyone together in one room for a meeting, but important to have at least one representative from the treatment center, school and family communicating.

The following considerations need to be made while planning an appropriate school plan for a child who has been diagnosed with cancer:

1. Is the child capable of attending school for a full or partial school day?
2. Does the child have special transportation needs?
3. Does the child’s school schedule need to be changed or modified?
4. Does the hospital or treatment facility have specific diet recommendations for the child and school to follow?
5. What are the treatment facilities recommendations for the school nurse, school social worker or counselor?
6. Can the child still participate in extra-curricular activities that the school offers? These activities to discuss include sports, drama and school clubs.
7. Pressure and stress: The team needs to discuss the physical and emotional demands that the child may be facing. Stress “triggers” can change daily. The treatment plans that are flexible often have a better chance of succeeding.
8. If the child going through chemotherapy and losing hair, will the child be allowed to wear a hat in school? What other school rules need to be modified or changed to meet the child’s needs, or places the child in a rule exception situation?

Children who have cancer need everyone’s help and support. When treatment facilities, families and schools come together and “team” to support a child diagnosed with cancer, the child is given a better chance and options to reduce stress and succeed in feeling good about his or her day.

For counseling help for children with cancer, go to: Ask A Counselor

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Flu Protection For Children

Protecting Your Child From The Flu

As more and more parents share their growing concerns of influenza, also known as the “flu,” some hospitals and clinics throughout the United States have period of time when they are inundated with parents seeking the flu shot for themselves and their children. Some studies indicate that as many as thirty thousand U.S. citizens die each year from influenza. Although many of these individuals are seniors or younger children (some with other preexisting medical conditions), some are healthy individuals who become violently ill due to this disease.

Parenting children who are healthy and, for the most part, virus free during most of their childhood is scary enough when you consider all the situations they are faced with on a day to day basis. For example, parents often have no control over immunizing or protecting their child from a sports related injury. Now, however, parents can have a chance (or some control) by immunizing their child against influenza. The following article, written by Maura Lerner of the Star Tribune, describes how school are now playing a bigger role in helping to protect your child from the flu.

Shots may go to where kids naturally gather: schools. More walk-in clinics would also play a role.

With a federal panel now urging annual flu shots for all school-aged children, Minnesota health officials are looking for new and creative ways to offer the vaccine en masse.

In the fall, flu-shot clinics may start popping up in new places, such as schools, as officials try to efficiently deliver the vaccine to more people. If everyone the federal panel recommended was vaccinated, as many as 30 million more Americans would seek flu shots next year.

But so far, no one is predicting a run on the vaccine, said Kris Ehresmann, who heads the vaccine program at the Minnesota Department of Health. “The thought that the public would all of a sudden come in one mad rush to pursue vaccine is a very, very unlikely scenario,” she said. Mainly health officials are studying ways to make it convenient so more people will try to get kids vaccinated.

Even yet this flu season, the push is on. March is past the peak of flu season in Minnesota and far beyond when most people consider getting a flu shot. But renewed interest in the vaccine surged last week with the state’s first death of a child this season to flu.

Jasmine Levy, 12, whose step-grandmother said the girl had not had a flu shot, died during the night before her mother even realized she was sick with flu and an accompanying staph infection. Levy had an underlying health condition — asthma.

A few days later, the vaccine advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to recommend flu shots for virtually all children ages 6 months to 18 years.

Until now, healthy children ages 5 to 18 were generally considered a low priority. But officials are looking anew at school-aged children as the population that initially gets the flu and then spreads it to the very young and very old — for whom the flu can be far more dangerous. In the wake of Levy’s death and the CDC recommendation, the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency organized late-season flu shot clinics that were held Friday and Saturday.

The Flu: What Parents Can do To Help Their Child

Fighting the Flu

Flu season begins every year mainly in late fall and early winter and usually spreads widely. The peak season for the flu in the Northern hemisphere is from November through March. Influenza is highly contagious. The virus is spread when someone either inhales infected droplets in the air. Coughing and sneezing are common examples. Kissing, sharing items or when someone comes in direct contact with an infected person's secretions can spread the flu bug.

Flu Symptoms In Children

Symptoms may begin 2-3 days after exposure to the virus. These symptoms usually last for 3-4 days, but cough and tiredness may linger for 1-2 weeks after the fever has gone away. Other family members or close contacts often have a similar illness. The flu comes on quickly and attacks the upper respiratory system. Classic symptoms include:

• High-grade fever up to 104°F (40°C)

• Chills

• Muscle aches

• Headaches

• Sore throat

• Dry cough

• When To Bring Your Child To A Doctor

The most difficult question for parents is when to see a doctor about flu symptoms. Many parents may believe their child may just have the common cold. Here are some guidelines about when to call the doctor:

• Fever continues after 2 days.

• Nasal discharge lasts more than 10 days.

• Nasal discharge becomes thick and yellow.

• Discharge is coming from the eyes.

• The child has difficulty breathing

• A seizure occurs

• Headaches last for more than two days

Flu symptoms may last more than a week. Parents can help their child's aches and pains with basic home care that may involve bed rest, encouraging the child to drink lots of fluids, treat fever with acetaminophen (as directed by doctor), provide humidifier and listen to your child. Flu prevention techniques should be discussed with your child. These teaching techniques should include:

• Hand washing with soap and water or an alcohol hand gel is an important way to prevent picking up a flu virus. Avoid touching the mouth, nose, or eyes prior to hand-washing.

• Vaccination- a flu shot should be given during the fall. In children, the flu vaccine can be given to children older than 6 months and in 2 separate doses for children younger than 9 years who have not been previously vaccinated. The flu vaccine is also available as a nasal spray (FluMist) for healthy children aged 5 years or older, adolescents, and adults aged 49 years or younger.

• Avoid childhood sleep-overs during the flu season.