Community health nurses work in partnership with schools and other health professionals to support and promote the health and well being of the school population as a whole. They also provide services in schools that are designed to meet the needs of individual students, families and school personnel.

Health Promotion Services

Health Promotion Services focuses on creating a school environment that encourages healthy choices that will continue through life. Some examples of health promotion services are:

• Advocacy and support for the development of school health policies (e.g. smoke-free school grounds, healthy foods)
• Assistance in identifying and addressing relevant health and social issues (e.g. sexually transmitted diseases, healthy sexuality, injury prevention)
• Support for teachers in the delivery of health education

Individual Services

Community health nurses provide services in schools for individual students, families and school personnel. Some examples include:

• Assisting in the transition to Kindergarten
• Immunizations
• Vision and hearing screening
• Prevention and management of life threatening allergic reactions
• Support and education to teachers, aides and school personnel for specific student health needs (e.g. tube feeding, catheterization)