Clinic phone number: 703-326-5210

Clinic (Health Services)

Clinic services in the school, including the administration of medication and modified first aid, are performed by the clinic staff, parent volunteers, and office staff. The clinic staff may provide care only for minor illnesses and injuries.

Dranesville's Public Health Nurse - Kathleen Zinicola:

Our Public Health Nurse makes weekly visits to the school as well as develops individualized health plans and serves as a resource to school staff for the prevention and control of communicable diseases.

She can be reached at [email protected] or 571-460-3831

Dranesville's School Health Aide 

Our health room aide, trained by the Fairfax County Health Department; not a medical professional but supervised by a school public health nurse.

They can be reached at 703-326-5210.

Health Information

• Please keep your child's Emergency Care Information updated.
• Ensure that ALL medical information is entered Include all medical conditions that may affect your child throughout the school day (for example, an occasional migraine headache)
• Include all food allergies (even minor ones)
• Include all allergies that may be seasonal and may require over-the-counter drugs that you will bring in
• As information changes, please provide updates as we need current information to provide the best care
• Bring your child’s medications with appropriate forms to the Health Room; newly completed forms are required each year.
• If your child is to receive daily medications during the school year, please develop a plan with his/her teachers as to when your child is to go to the Health Room because medication can only be given one half hour before or after the prescribed time.

Illness or Injury

If your child is injured or becomes sick at school, we will notify you immediately.  If we cannot reach a parent, we will call a person you have listed on your Emergency Care Form. It is important that we have an Emergency Care Form on file for each student and that the information is updated as changes occur. Please include several neighbors and family members on the form.

weCARE@School allows you to update emergency care information online using your FCPS Parent Account. 

Contagious Illnesses

In accordance with the communicable disease policy for Fairfax County Public Schools, students with symptoms such as rashes, skin eruptions, water and inflamed eyes, fever, sore throat, vomiting or diarrhea should stay home until the doctor evaluates their symptoms and determines whether they are contagious or the symptoms are no longer present. Students with an elevated temperature should be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.

Parents will be contacted and expected to take their child home if he/she is sent to school with symptoms of an illness, becomes sick, or develops a rash.

Please notify the school office if your child should contract chicken pox, strep throat, measles, head lice, or any other contagious disease.

If a child at school appears to have a condition that may be contagious, a Health Referral form will be written and given to the parent/guardian for an evaluation of the condition by a doctor. Your child must be picked up as soon as possible.

Typical conditions that require a Health Referral form are:

• Rashes which are signs of contagious diseases like Measles, Fifth’s Disease, …
• Inflamed eyes with discharge like Pink Eye…
• Skin inflammations like Scabies, Ringworm, Impetigo…

It is necessary to keep sick children at home. It is difficult for students to concentrate and do school work when not feeling well. Additionally, if your child is contagious, he/she may spread the illness to other children.

Medication

A student may carry over-the-counter cough drops, throat lozenges, bug spray, sun screen, lip balm, and hand lotion without a Medical Authorization form. These items must be in their original container and cannot be shared with other students.

If your child MUST receive medication during school hours, you are required to complete the appropriate Fairfax County Public Schools medical authorization forms. 

Please complete all medication forms accurately before bringing medication to school.

Medication will not be dispensed without proper authorization from a physician.

• All medication (prescription/over-the-counter) must be in the original container and properly labeled.
• Parents must transport the medicine to and from the Health Room (9:00am-4:00pm daily) and must wait until all information is properly checked for accuracy and all medications are counted and stored.
• For general purpose medicine, - our health room does not have any general purpose medicine (for example, aspirin) that it can give to students. All medication even over-the-counter must be provided by parents. Medication should be taken at home as much as possible in order to not disrupt the child’s school day by a visit to the Health Room. The first dose of new medicine must be given at home.  
• For prescription medicine, a Medical Authorization form (click here) completed by the parent/guardian and the doctor specifying child/medicine/dosage/frequency-time interval/treatment duration
• For over-the-counter medicine or an antibiotic, not exceeding a 10 day treatment, a Medical Authorization form completed by the parent for a specific child
• For over-the-counter medicine ONLY for headache, orthodontic pain, muscle ache, or menstrual cramps, a Medical Authorization form completed by the parent for a specific child which will apply to the school year
• For over-the-counter medicine (not one of the above 4 categories, longer than 10-day treatment, a Medical Authorization form completed by the parent and the doctor specifying child/medicine/dosage/frequency-time interval/treatment duration
• NO medical symbols or abbreviations are allowed on the Medical Authorization Form; simple English is necessary to avoid misinterpretation
• Follow all instructions on the second page of each form.  
• Please note that if the medicine’s expiration date is within the school year, no medication can be given to your child after the expiration date.

Head Lice

Outbreaks of head lice are common among children in schools and day care, affecting all social and economic groups.

According to the CDC, current evidence does not support classroom or school-wide screening for head lice to reduce the number of head lice infestations among school children.

Students diagnosed with live head lice cannot remain in school and must be treated. A Treatment Verification form should be completed before your child returns to school. This form with an accompanying lice treatment brochure (click here) is provided to the parent/guardian. 

If you discover that your child has head lice, please notify the Health Room (703 326-5210).

Students with only nits (lice eggs) are not restricted from attending school. However, it is recommended that lice elimination treatment be performed before live head lice appear.

Vision and Hearing Screening

Vision and Hearing screenings are performed on all kindergarten students, third grade students, new FCPS students, and those referred by a teacher.

If your child fails a screening, you will receive notification from the Health Room and advised to take your child to a doctor for a follow-up and more thorough examination. Please return the notification form to the Health Room after your doctor has completed the examination.

A second follow up notification will be sent if the form has not been returned.