Health Services
Welcome to the South Portland School Nursing and Health Services web site. The nursing team's goal is to support student learning through student advocacy and partnership with families and other supportive adults. Healthy students who attend school regularly are more likely to be engaged and successful now and into the future.
The South Portland School Department has a team of seven experienced registered nurses providing for the health needs of over 3,000 students. Health needs in public schools reflect the ever increasing health needs of the general population. School health clinics do not remotely resemble the needs of students even as recently as 5 years ago.
Nurses review the immunization health records for over 275 incoming kindergarten students, coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control when we experience unexpected health outbreaks, conduct over 2,000 hearing and vision screenings, organize and implement flu clinics in which nearly 600 students and staff participate. In addition to managing care for students with asthma, epi-pens, post-concussive syndrome, diabetes and seizure disorders, they teach puberty to the district's fifth graders, and provide professional development for staff and families on topics such as the importance of hand washing in preventing the spread of disease, cough etiquette, and managing allergy symptoms.
Our health clinics are a hub for people seeking advice on diverse health needs. We are always happy to hear from students and families about how we can help to address health related concerns. We also hope the information we have provided here will be useful to the families in our school communities.