Sending Medication To School

[Andrew]

08/26/2005

Classrooms in Sioux Falls will be full on Monday and that means parents have just one weekend left to check off their child's school list.

These days its not uncommon to send prescribed medications to school with your child. But there are some things parents should know so that pills don't end up in the wrong hands.

When a child is prescribed a medication, often times that pill will have to be taken with a meal or during the middle of the day..in other words, at school.

If a child must take medication at school, The Sioux Falls School district requires parents to sign a policy which includes a physician's signature.
6:03 Mary
Sioux Falls School District Health Supervisor Mary Leerson says "We have a number of students taking medication. We need to know exactly which student that is."

That's why schools also stress the importance of sending medication in the labeled prescription bottles.

"I think sometimes parents don't realize the important of you know have that labeled bottle. We have had parents bring medications in tissues or baggies, sometimes in different kinds of bottles," says Leerson.

A highly prescribed drug for children and even teenagers is a stimulant medication to treat A-D-H-D...these types of drugs may have street value...which schools say can become a serious problem.

"Certainly the big one that we worry about is stimulant medications. Ritalin is one that we've read about in the news where kids will crush it and snort it," says Dr. Rick Kooima from the McGreevy Clinic.

A big reason schools need parents help in administering their child's medication.

Schools and doctors also say parents should alert their child's school of any allergies their child may have. If their child is able to administer the drug themselves, only one dose is allowed at school per day.

Kelli Grant
http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail2820.cfm?Id=0,42092