Health screening required for new students

(CNS): All students entering government or private schools for the first time on all three Cayman Islands are required to have health screenings, which the Public Health Department provides at no charge. The screening comprises obtaining medical and surgical history; assessment of growth and development, screening for vision and hearing; dental assessment and reviewing and administering necessary immunisations. “This must be done before the new school year begins in September,” said School Health Coordinator Joanna Rose -Wright.

For students entering schools in the West Bay and the Eastern districts, health screenings will be done at the district health centres, which started Monday, 1 June. School entry screening for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman starts this month (June) and continues through August. Public Health Nurse Nelsie Jones will organize school entry screening and she will get in touch with parents regarding the date and time for each child. For all other students, health screenings will take place at John Gray’s medical centre from 7 July to 31 August 2009.

Appointments for students entering Leading Edge, PACE, New Horizons, and Heritage schools, as well as John Gray High School, can only be made at the George Hicks High School administrative office. Please call 949-9488 for an appointment. For all other students, appointments can be made at the respective schools at the time of registration.

Nurse Rose-Wright reminds parents and guardians that they need to accompany their children to the health screening, and they must bring the child’s immunisation records.

“School health nurses will offer necessary vaccines for children whose immunisations are not up to date, and then issue a health-screening certificate, which is to be taken to the child’s school,” she explained. Health screenings can also be done by private doctors, who will complete the school health screening forms provided by the Public Health Department.

Parents who take their children to private doctors should hand in the completed health screening records to John Gray’s medical centre any time from 7 July to 31 August, between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Records completed by a private physician before or after these dates can be dropped off at the Cayman Islands Hospital’s Public Health Clinic. Once the record has been received, a health screening certificate will be issued which then must be taken to the school that the child is entering.

Detailed information sheets for parents and guardians are available at the schools. For more information, please contact Nurse Rose-Wright at 244-2648 or 244-2734, or John Gray’s medical centre at 949-2501.