Overview
During the 2009-2010 grant year (October 2009 to September 2010), the Center will build on its prior work to develop its School Health Surveillance System (SHSS) and an enhanced flu surveillance program funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to produce a Pre-School and School Health Surveillance Guidance Kit.
The Guidance Kit is intended to help local health departments learn how to establish similar school and childcare facility health data surveillance programs. It willoffer audience-specific educational resources for children, students, parents, the public, nurses, and daycare staff and reflect lessons learned from regional efforts to set up the SHSS and build ties with childcare facilities.
Benefits
This project aligns strongly with CDC objectives to improve biosurveillance and disease detection and investigation and also supports CDC goals for partnerships and collaboration building within the school system. It significantly impacts biosurveillance capabilities and potentially offers earlier warning of health threats by using school data, a sentinel indicator of community disease outbreaks, and can enhance a local agency’s ability to respond rapidly and effectively to school-based health issues.
Format
The Guidance Kit will be produced in multiple electronic media formats to include a CD and use of this Website; both will offer an assessment methodology, templates, educational material, and open source software resources to enable easy set-up of a school Web portal.
Evaluation
The Center will collaborate with multiple subject matter experts qualified and willing to evaluate each section of the guidance document as those sections are completed. The Center intends to engage one or more contractors to continue its practice of conducting a formal academic evaluation of the Tarrant County implementation of the School Health Surveillance System that culminates with a written report. In previous grant years, the program evaluation, coupled with input from system users, has yielded significant system enhancements.
Distribution
When completed by fall 2010, the Guidance Kit will be accessible on this Website and on a CD available to requestors from the NACCHO APC Toolbox.