Letters

Unlicensed staff to perform invasive procedures?I am a health clerk at Morgan Hill Unified School District and it is very important to know the facts.MHUSD is trying to change our Health Clerk Job descriptions to include ALL RN and LVN invasive procedures. This includes catheterization, feeding tubes, administration of insulin and any other invasive procedure that an RN or LVN is educated, trained and licensed to perform.   We the health clerks already oversee (watch over) our diabetic students every day. This is not just about giving insulin to our diabetic students! We are not licensed nor do we have the medical training/education needed to perform any of these invasive duties.The problem is not with the Health Clerks, it is with MHUSD. This issue is clearly fueled by an allocation of funds. They have allowed the already established jobs of the RN and LVNs within MHUSD to become grossly understaffed, which prevents the students from receiving the care and procedures that they require on a daily basis. I am sure that the parents of students who require specialized procedures would not want someone with no medical training, who is not licensed or qualified, to perform any of these invasive duties on their child.• We are not Registered Nurses or LVNs; we are not licensed at all. We have no medical training or education except for first aid and CPR.   • We are only at our school sites for three or four hours a day. This is what MHUSD gives us to do our jobs.• In that allotted time, we can see up to 30 students for multiple reasons which also requires documentation and notification to parents.• We have multiple students in our health clerk offices at once. We are required to multi-task most of the day, every day.• We have many clerical duties that we are required to complete to keep MHUSD compliant with county and state requirements.We the health clerks are unable to obtain any kind of malpractice or personal liability insurance to protect us and our families from a civil lawsuit. While MHUSD has some coverage, even the RNs and LVNs hold their own liability insurance. We the health clerks are not able to obtain any insurance to cover us. It is unethical for MHUSD to ask the health clerks to put us and our families at risk of a civil lawsuit.We the health clerks love our jobs and do the very best for the many students we see each day with our limited first aid and CPR training. I myself have been doing this job at my same site for 16 years and couldn’t think of anything else I would rather do. Our students’ health and safety is our number one priority.   We truly hope that the public understands that changing our health clerk job description to include invasive RN and LVN duties is so much more than diabetes. We urge the public to require MHUSD to re-staff the RN and LVN positions so that our students attending schools in MHUSD are safe and receiving the best possible care that they need and deserve.Heidi CurielMorgan Hill

Saint Louise is an example of why regulators are needed