I am looking for info here because I am at my wits end. I have 3 siblings all in Kindergarten who have had head lice LITERALLY since the first day of school. I have had multiple meetings with Mom. She was treating at the beginning of school and she has just stopped treating all together now. CPS was called previously, they said that there wasn't anything they could do. Our family resource coordinator has worked with Mom but she still does nothing. We're not allowed to treat the kids at school, nor do I want to. Everyday the girls come to me and I try to remove all live lice that I can just to prevent them from spreading.
Mom is for the most part doing what she can I think, She is a single mother with 6 kids and no other family support around, we have offered her every bit of help that we can offer/ know of.
Any tips/info greatly appreciated. I just do not know what else to do.
Treating the children is a temporary stopgap, without the parents being treated, it will only persist. This family will forever remain infested. Maybe they can't afford pets and these are low maintenance and no cost? Sorry for the social impact this will have on the children.
It is not fair to the parents who don't have Medicaid for their child to get lice and have regular insurance which they pay ($110) for prescription meds/person infected in the house , and the annoyance and grossness that comes along with it, and time disinfecting the house. bc a parent is too lazy to do The treatments in which they 99.9% get for free!
It is not fair to the parents who don't have Medicaid for their child to get lice and have regular insurance which they pay ($110) for prescription meds/person infected in the house , and the annoyance and grossness that comes along with it, and time disinfecting the house. bc a parent is too lazy to do The treatments in which they 99.9% get for free!
uh huh...you're preaching to the choir...so what's your suggestion?
Treatment can be had for $10 in a good lice comb. It is not necessary to use chemicals, just diligence. I read an account where a boy developed lymphoma and had 4 periods of relapse/ recession before it finally took his life. The hindsight for doctor and parents was it presented post Rx lice treatment and subsequent outbreaks.
Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
Today I was told that one Kinder student was found was lice and he was there the whole week before they found out. Now I am being to told to check ALL of Kinder and 1st because apparently because he was everywhere. And plus his brother who is 4th grade. So Not only that class, but I have to check 7 classes in total because of this.
Yes! I had a parent call the school this morning furious because her kinder and 5th grader has lice and she just knows that they got it at school. Principal didn't ask but told me to check all of kinder and 5th grade to see If anyone else had it. Guess what? No one did, not even my two regulars that ALWAYS have it.
Today I was told that one Kinder student was found was lice and he was there the whole week before they found out. Now I am being to told to check ALL of Kinder and 1st because apparently because he was everywhere. And plus his brother who is 4th grade. So Not only that class, but I have to check 7 classes in total because of this.
Am I going nuts or does this make sense?
Most infestations are not found until at least 4 weeks out, so chances are he had it A LOT longer than a week, but don't tell your principal that or you'll be checking the whole county!
This is why I am very glad I got my school on board with no-exclusion for live lice, nits, etc.
I won the battle with this after a student kept coming to school with live lice and sent home. Student already had low attendance and this was just adding to it. Student was failing every single class due to low attendance. Parent said they couldn't afford treatment, dyed child's hair instead. Child still had lice. School brought treatment for parent. Parent refused to use it. We call CPS - nothing they could do. Also, child was not teased by other students and other students knew this student had lice and didn't care (upper elementary age).
Student did transfer eventually to another school, but it did help win the battle (along with evidence from NASN and the CDC) to stop excluding for lice and to stop classroom checks. If I by chance find lice in a student, I will check their sibling and call home to inform parent and recommend treatment. Most parents pick up their child right away and are so relieved that I don't send a letter out to the whole school. In fact, the parents have been supportive of this.
But I will also say I work with upper elementary, MS, HS. We don't see lice too often to be fair.
Majority of our districts around us and including ours are all nit free schools. Now I know there is A LOT of opinions on this.
I happen to love it. At the beginning I had one family that spent forever "trying" to get rid of it. I was very firm about the policy and
though it did include a hotline, which they took because the kids had open sores and parents couldn't show proof they was treating. They got help and have been free since. We do checks PRN and any new student in the district gets checked. We have minimal issues here and I know the surrounding districts are the same way.
Farawyn
12,646 Posts
ahahahhaaaaaaaaaa!!!