Maine Public quotes Strout in report on lack of school nurses
Maine Public quoted Kelley Strout, an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Maine, in the report, “More Maine students have serious health needs, and there often aren’t enough school nurses to help.” More than 10 percent of students in Maine public schools have a chronic health condition such as asthma, Type 1 diabetes or seizure disorders. This can present challenges in small, rural school districts that may not have a full-time school nurse, according to Maine Public. Strout, who has researched student-nurse ratios in Maine schools, told Maine Public that more affluent school districts tend to provide more nurses per child than some poorer districts, like those in Washington County. “What we see is that those schools are strapped for more resources. And they don’t get the health resources that the affluent schools have, that are doing well,” Strout said.