Bixby Public Schools believes that students are better able to take advantage of their educational opportunities if they are healthy. To that end, the district has five registered nurses on staff, serving all school sites. These nurses provide health education, routine medication and health services, and crisis intervention. They supervise vision and hearing screening, maintain individual student health records, and routinely consult on health and safety issues related to students.
State law requires students to receive specific immunizations to attend public schools. The immunization schedule is by grade level.
|DPT||4||5 *unless the fourth dose was received on or after the fourth birthday.|
|OPV||3||4 *unless the third dose was received on or after the fouth birthday.|
|Hepatitis A||2 PreK-12th Grade|
|Hepatitis B||3 PreK-12th Grade|
|Varicella||1 PreK-12th Grade|
|Tdap||1 in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade|
Meningococcal Disease and Vaccines
In accordance with Oklahoma State Law, the Bixby School District must provide information to parents regarding Meningococcal Disease and Vaccines. Meningococcal disease is a rare but very serious disease. In the United States about 2, 500 people are infected and about 300 people die every year, in spite of treatment with antibiotics. Of those who live, about 400 a year lose their arms or legs, become deaf, have problems with their nervous systems, become mentally retarded, or suffer seizures and stroke. There is a vaccine for meningococcal disease and it is recommended for all children ages 11 through 18 years of age. This vaccine is not required to attend kindergarten through the 12th grade in Oklahoma. However, it is required for students who are enrolling in colleges and other schools after high school who will live in dormitories or on-campus student housing. For complete information regarding meningococcal disease and vaccines, please contact the school nurse or visit the school website and choose the school nurse web page.
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)
Recent publicity about outbreaks of student exposure to MRSA has created great concern about health and safety at schools. The primary defense against MRSA is clean and thorough had washing and cleaning of surfaces that have been exposed to contaminated body fluids.
It is estimated that 25 to 30 percent of Americans have staph bacteria on their body, some of the MRSA variety. Researchers say the drug-resistant form of the bacteria is the result of doctors over-prescribing antibiotic medications for common colds and ear infections. Too many antibiotics in the environment favor bacteria that mutate and become resistant to common antibiotic treatments. Symptoms of an invasive and potentially serious infection can include fever, chills and shortness of breath. The infection, confirmed through a skin or blood culture, requires treatment with several extra-strength antibiotics.
People can protect against the bacteria by washing their hands and showering after exercising, covering any wounds, not sharing personal items like towels and cleaning surfaces that people touch often. CDC guidelines say that a student who has a MRSA infection can go to school, provided that the student's wound can be safely covered, they maintain good personal hygiene and that they do not participate in sports that involve skin-to-skin contact.
If you have questions regarding health services, please contact Tracy Stephens, Lead Nurse, at (918) 366-2285.