NEA offers health and safety resources
Today's ever-changing health care system affects students as well as adults. The National Education Association (NEA), which all NYSUT members are affiliated with, has toolkits on health literacy that are available for free download. Visit www.neamb.com/professional and under "Classroom Resources" click on NEA's Health Information Network. Toolkits include the stomach bug book; resources for breakfast in the classroom; health literacy; adolescent health and how to manage blood on the job.
Bronx CC activists celebrate victory at sinkhole party
Professional Staff Congress members helped ensure the health and safety of faculty, staff and students at the City University of New York's Bronx Community College after they demanded campus officials repair a 35-foot sinkhole that was growing in the middle of a running track.
"Sinkhole Jr." grew unchecked for eight years. Campus officials merely put a fence around it and as the hole got bigger, so did the fence. Finally, this summer, after a long fight for the necessary funds to fix this and other persistent problems, "Sinkhole Jr." is no more.
The PSC chapter at Bronx CC has advocated relentlessly for years to secure capital funding so CUNY can fix chronic structural problems, including the first giant pothole called "The Sinkhole" that was big enough to swallow a car, according to the Clarion, PSC's member newspaper. It took Bronx CC five years to fix that one.
Undaunted, PSC members and students continued to put pressure on campus officials, sending 1,000 picture postcards of the campus' physical demise to elected officials. They also created a "Hall of Shame" that highlighted crumbling structures and needed repairs.
The campus has now secured $30 million in capital funds. Other repairs include fixing a broken fire escape, repairing lighting, remediating mold and replacing pipe insulation.
PSC is NYSUT's higher education affiliate representing 25,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York.
NYSUT advocates for proper care procedures for diabetics
NYSUT continues efforts to advocate against the use of non-health care personnel to administer routine and emergency care to students with diabetes.
The statewide union, which represents thousands of health care professionals, is concerned about the dangers of training unlicensed, non-medical personnel to administer glucagons by injections that require nursing skill and judgement.
NYSUT asserts that school nurses, who are registered professionals, should be entrusted with the responsibility to provide safe and proper care to students with diabetes.