Health Services

The school strives to provide an environment conducive to promoting and maintaining good health. Students who become ill, are injured, or require treatment and/or medications during the school day are requested to go to nurse's office and are cared for by full-time nurses. The school nurses also serve as a resource for students, families, and the classroom on health-related topics.

Visiting the School Nurse's Office

The Nurse's Office, open Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, is staffed by four full-time nurses equipped to provide immediate first aid and treat minor injuries and illnesses.

When a student visits the Nurse's Office, a nurse will evaluate the student's symptoms and/or complaints and record the treatment provided. Parents/guardians will be notified about the visit via email.

School nurses will not contact parents/guardians by phone about minor cuts, scratches, bruises, or other such complaints. They will, however, call parents/guardians (on the emergency telephone number listed on the student's file) if the child has severe injuries or persistent symptoms that may require further medical attention. For this reason, it is important that you update your personal information with the divisional administrative assistants.

When to Keep Your Child at Home

Deciding whether to keep a child home from school is not an easy decision. Children need to be in school. However, when a child is sick, it is important to keep them at home under an adult's care while recovering and avoiding spreading the illness to others.

Graded recommends keeping your child at home if they demonstrate any of the following symptoms. The list is not exhaustive, and as always, we strongly advise you to seek medical attention from your child's healthcare provider.

Fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit/37.8 degrees Celsius
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Rash, especially when accompanied by a fever
Moderate to severe flu-like symptoms
Severe cough
Severe sore throat or white spots on the back of the throat
Chickenpox
Conjunctivitis
Signs or symptoms of acute illness
Serious accident/injury
Asthma symptoms that do not respond to medication
Lice
Any other infectious illness

It is recommended that your child be symptom-free for at least 24 hours before returning to school.

If the nurses suspect that a student has a contagious disease, they will contact parents/guardians and request that the student be picked up and examined by a doctor. Following the examination, the doctor must provide an atestado médico (note) with a diagnosis and the length of time the student should be kept out of school. The note must also include the CID (ICD code - International Code for Diseases).

Recommendations

Conjunctivitis
If your child has conjunctivitis, he or she will need a doctor's note to return to school. The note must be handed to the school nurse upon your child's arrival. We strongly advise you to check all members of your family for conjunctivitis symptoms and take them to the doctor for adequate treatment. For further information and recommendations, please read the document below.
Health Services Recommendations - Conjunctivitis

Lice
"There is a lack of evidence showing that routine class or school-wide screening reduces lice infestation rates" (Frankowski, 2010). Therefore, class screenings will not be routinely done at Graded. Parents should periodically check their children for lice. If crawling lice are discovered on a student at school, the parents will be contacted to pick up the child and will be provided information on head lice and its treatment. Parents should treat their child overnight. The next day, the child will be re-examined and admitted to class. If he or she is still contaminated, the parents will be notified again. All household members must also be screened for head lice at home. For further information and recommendations, please read the document below.
Health Services Recommendations - Head Lice

COVID-19 Protocols

Graded's COVID-19 protocols are guided by:

JOINT ORDINANCE MUNICIPAL HEALTH SECRETARY - SMS; MUNICIPAL EDUCATION SECRETARY - SME NO. 377 OF JUNE 20, 2022 and ANEXO ÚNICO Portaria nº 377/2022 and the CDC guidelines.

Based on these protocols, we will abide by the following:

If you have COVID-19, you can spread the virus to others. There are precautions you can take to prevent spreading it to others: isolation, masking, and avoiding contact with people who are at high risk of getting very sick.

If you test positive for COVID-19, it is recommended you isolate for at least five days and isolate from others in your household. Wear a high-quality mask if you must be around others at home and in public until day seven.
If two or more students in a lower school classroom contract COVID-19, the entire class, including teachers, must wear masks indoors for 14 days. (Masks are not required outdoors.)
Isolation can be discontinued at least five days after symptom onset (day zero is the day symptoms appeared, and day one is the next full day thereafter) if the fever has resolved for at least 24 hours (without taking fever-reducing medications) AND other symptoms are improving, OR a COVID-19 negative test result is submitted to the Nurse's Office.
If a student is asymptomatic after close contact with a COVID-19-positive individual (including a household member), they may continue to attend school.
IF you still have a fever on day five, you must be isolated until day seven. If you still have a fever on day seven, you must be isolated until day 10.
Graded will accept COVID-19 antigen tests administered at a pharmacy or lab-based PCR tests. The school will no longer be partnering with Mendelics for COVID-19 testing.

If you have any questions concerning the new protocols, please email Head Nurse Rita Lupo at rita.lupo@graded.br.

Forms and Immunization Records

The Brazilian government requires that all students update their health information and vaccination records annually.

Required immunizations may be found here.

According to the Brazilian Federal Nurse Association (COFEN), nurses may administer basic medication (such as painkillers) to students as long as parents/guardians have filled out this health form, which requires a doctor's signature and stamp. Therefore, if you would like your child to have access to basic medication, please submit the health form to the Nurse’s Office within the first two weeks of school. If a student needs to receive medication unavailable at school, parents/guardians must provide both the medication and a copy of its prescription.

If a student has severe allergies, parents/guardians must ask their doctor to fill out the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Emergency Care Plan form. If a student is diabetic, parents/guardians must fill out the Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP) Form. Please submit the form(s) to the Nurse’s Office within the first two weeks of school.