Marketplace quotes Strout in segment on school nurse shortage
Marketplace quoted Kelley Strout, an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Maine, in a segment on the shortage of school nurses in the state. According to the CDC, rates of diseases like diabetes and epilepsy, and mental health needs, have increased in children over the past few decades. But fewer than 40 percent of schools employ full-time nurses, Marketplace reported. Maine’s rural and high-poverty areas bear a heavier burden, and a statewide nursing shortage is projected to grow to 3,000 nurses by 2025, the report states. Strout said some parts of the state with the worst health outcomes have the fewest school nurses — for example, one tiny school district has a nurse who covers seven school buildings and only comes once a month. “The issue is so clear that there’s resource disparity across the state,” Strout said. “How do you fix it? How do you level it out? Especially when it comes to our health?” Some schools are considering models to share nurses with local hospitals, and in the meantime most are filling the gaps by training custodians, bus drivers, administrative assistants and others in basic first aid, according to Marketplace.