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Welcome!

From scraped knees to administering medicine and everything in between, the Health Office at Mountain Sage is a busy place. Our Health Tech works closely with a Registered Nurse to help keep everything running smoothly.

When Your Child Should Stay Home

If your child is contagious to other children, is too uncomfortable to learn or participate in learning, or presents any of the following, please keep them home. Children who arrive at school presenting any of these symptoms of those of COVID-19 will be sent home:

Fever: Temperature of 100 degrees or higher. Must be fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medicines, such as Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen (i.e., Tylenol, Advil, Motrin)

Diarrhea: Frequent watery stools

Appearance/Behavior: Unusually tired, pale, or irritable, fever

Ear: Ear pain and/or drainage from ear, fever

Eyes: Eye drainage, redness and/or itching

Rash: Body or local rash especially with itching, red bumps, discharge

Sore Throat: Especially with fever, swollen neck glands and/or white areas on throat

Vomiting: Especially if your child vomits before leaving for school in the morning

Upper Respiratory Infections/Colds: If your child has a fever, large amounts of nasal drainage, a productive or dry cough that would be disruptive to your child and/or class, and/ or significantly uncomfortable and unable to participate in class.

Burns:

    • Burn is on your child’s eye or eyelid
    • The center of the burn is white or charred
    • Burn starts to look infected with pus, red streaks, and/or increased tenderness
    • Blisters that are greater than ½ inch in size
    • If burn was caused by acid, alkali or electrical burn

Cuts and Scrapes and Puncture Wounds:

    • If you think your child has a serious injury or a cut that is split open or gaping, consult with your health care provider.
    • Cuts longer than ½ inch may need stitches
    • On the face, cuts, longer than ¼ inch may need stitches
    • Open wound that may need stitches should be checked and closed within 6 hours
    • Wound looks infected with redness, red streaks, swelling, fever and/or tenderness
    • Your child may need a tetanus booster

Head Injury - Call your healthcare provider if:

    • Your child is knocked unconscious
    • Headache
    • Nausea/vomiting
    • Unequal pupils/blurred vision, double vision
    • Slurred speech/confusion/excessive drowsiness
    • Loss of muscle coordination, such as falling down, dizzy, walking strangely or staggering
    • Convulsions/seizures
    • Bleeding or discharge from ear/nose

This information is for educational purposes. The Mountain Sage Community School Health Technicians do not diagnose medical conditions. Please consult with your primary health care provider for questions about diagnosis, treatment or concerns. Our goal is to promote healthy environments for all students and staff. Thank you for your cooperation.

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Immunizations

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment requires public schools to report vaccination records for every enrolled student. Colorado law requires students who attend a public, private or parochial kindergarten - 12th grade school to be vaccinated against many of the diseases vaccines can prevent. Please click here to see the most current list of required vaccinations for children attending school. The CDPHE changed its approach to non-medical exemptions as of of the 21/22 school year. Read the letter to parents about vaccinations from the CDPHE.

Students registering for the first time at Mountain Sage are required to present one of the following:

  1. Proof of immunization.
  2. Signed State of Colorado Exemption Certificate or Immunization Medical Exemption form
  3. Certificate of Non-Medical Exemption, either as a result of having completed this educational module from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment or as completed by your child’s healthcare provider (M.D., D.O., Physician’s Assistant, or Advanced Practice Nurse). Read more about these updated vaccine exemption requirements from the CDPHE

Families with returning students must keep their child's immunizations current. If you have filed a vaccine exemption in previous years and plan to do so again, see step 3 above. Full details on immunization requirements are available from the state of Colorado.

Immunization requirements are strictly enforced for all students.  Students who don't meet requirements will be denied attendance according to Colorado Revised Statues 25-4-902.  To obtain immunizations free or at a low cost, call the Family Health Line at 303-692-2229 or 1-800-688-7777.  You may also contact your healthcare provider, the Larimer County Health Department at 970-498-6700, or visit their website for more information.

Immunization Requirements to enter school (K-12):

  • Hepatitis B.
  • Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTap).*
  • Inactivated poliovirus (IPV).*
  • Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR).*
  • Varicella (chicken pox). *
  • Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap).**

*Students 4 through 6 years of age are required to have their final doses of DTaP, IPV, MMR and Varicella prior to kindergarten entry.

**Students are required to have Tdap prior to entry into 6th grade. One dose of Tdap is required for 6th through 12th grades.

Additional Details

Please inform your school's health care staff if your child has special health concerns, allergies, medications or dietary needs. A complete physical exam by a family physician is required for students entering the preschool program and recommended for students entering kindergarten and 4th grade.

​Visit the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment to learn how to get a copy of your record, opt out your immunization records from CIIS, or rescind your opt-out request as well as to access medical and non-medical (religious and personal belief) exemption forms.

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Medications at School

In the your event that your child may need medication at school, it is important that you understand our medication administration policy:

  • Whenever possible, students should take medicine outside of school and school-sponsored activities.
  • If medicine must be administered at school it should be administered by a student’s parent unless they are unavailable.
  • If a parent is unavailable then ALL medicine, over the counter or prescription, must be delivered by the parent or guardian to our Health Technician in the original, labeled container. Please note that cough drops are considered an over the counter medication.
  • Prescription medications must have the student’s name, name of medicine, dosage, name of prescribing health care provider, date prescription was filled and the expiration date printed on the label.
  • In-order to be able to administer these medications we must also have an Authorization and Release form filled out and signed by both the parent or guardian and your licensed health care provider. These forms are available here or at the front desk. These forms must be filled out each year as they do not roll over from year to year.

If you would like your middle school student to self-carry and administer an inhaler or epi-pen please contact Sher Dulany at 970.568.5456 or sdulaney@mountainsage.org to review appropriate documentation and set up a time to meet with our contracted school nurse.

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Head Lice

In an effort to minimize problems with lice and nits we ask for your assistance. Please take these precautions:

  1. Check your child's hair for lice and eggs (also called nits).
  2. Inform the school if your child has head lice.
  3. If head lice is found, your child can return to school 24 hours after treatment has begun, and is louse (live, moving bug) free.

You can identify head lice and its eggs (nits) is as follows:

Lice: Head lice are tiny insects that live only on people's scalp and hair. They are grayish-white with dark margins, diamond shaped, the size of a small sesame seed. They hatch from small eggs (nits).

Nits: Translucent, silvery-white oval specks firmly attached (cemented) to the hair shaft, not the scalp. They may appear as dandruff (in blond hair they may appear as sand), but cannot be brushed or shaken off the hair. Nits are most often found around the ears, nape of the neck, in braids, or around barrettes. However, live nits may be found throughout the hair and at any length. The eggs hatch in 6-10 days, with new lice reaching adulthood about 2-3 weeks later. The lice live by biting and sucking blood from the scalp. Lice can survive 1-2 days away from the scalp. Until a person is treated they can transmit them to others.The object of treatment is to destroy both the adult lice and their eggs. One treatment consists of applying a medicated shampoo followed by use of a special fine-tooth comb to remove the dead nits. All nits must be removed to insure proper treatment. Nits will hatch into crawling lice within 7-10 days, generating a cycle of self-reinfestation so it is important to check for nits daily for the next 14 days.

Other treatments are available that do not use a pediculicide (medicated shampoo) but focus on suffocating lice followed by diligent removal of all nits. Contact your pediatrician for specific information.

Ensure cleaning of personal items and surroundings:

  • Machine wash all washable and possibly infested items in hot water.
  • Dry them in a hot dryer.
  • Put non-washable items (furry toys or pillows) in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes, or dry-clean them.
  • Seal items that cannot be washed or dried in a plastic bag for 14 days (any eggs or lice present will die in this time)
  • Wash combs and brushes in a shampoo approved to kill lice, or soak in hot water (greater than 128 degrees) for at least 5 minutes.
  • Thoroughly vacuum rugs, upholstered furniture, and mattresses.
  • Do not use insecticide sprays because they can be harmful to people and animals.

Additional helpful information can be found at the following websites: www.headlice.org., www.headLiceInfo.com.

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