By way of Elaine Davis, an update on the effort to get nurses in all Knox County schools.

The East Tennessee Branch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is lending their support, and will speak to the School Board about it at the School Board's Aug. 6th meeting.

In addition, School Board Chair Karen Carson has called an informal public meeting on the topic. The meeting will be this Thursday, Aug. 2nd at 10AM at the Atlanta Bread Co. at Turkey Creek. Anyone interested in talking about funding for school nurses at all Knox County schools is invited to attend.

Ed. note: I'm surprised this is even an issue. I guess I assumed every school had a school nurse. Even tiny little South Knoxville Elementary had a nurse when I was growing up, and she was a primary source of health care for lots of kids.

Although school nurses should be trained not to leave kids alone in the exam room. I remember one occasion when I was sent to see the nurse due to complaining about, uh, non-specific symptoms. The nurse left me alone, and I ran the thermometer under hot water from the sink and managed to get sent home with a "fever."