Marshall County Public Health Nurse Sandy Dunfee asked the county commissioners this week to apply for a School Reopening Grant for $110,000.
“The School Reopening grant is part two of a grant last year that was denied by the [Marshall County] council,” explained Dunfee. “This grant focuses more on helping the schools be up to compliance with their hearing screens, their vision screens, and their communicable disease plans that the state requires. That way we can go into the schools to assist them in those areas. It’s very difficult for the schools to find staff. We already have a great working relationship with all of the county schools and we want to continue that by being able to offer them these services.”
It will also help with updating immunization records.
Health Administrator Faith Freed stressed that this grant is more about the reporting aspect, rather than administering vaccines.
When discussing vaccines, Dunfee said the Health Department works closely with the hospital systems.
“We’ve already created a working arrangement with St. Joe Regional Medical Center and Beacon Hospital that anytime we are offering vaccines – childhood immunizations – to the school, they will be offering the COVID-19 vaccines. We are not even administering them in the school setting. The Health Department is not.”
The commissioners approved the grant application request with a unanimous vote.
