School Illness and Absentee Program

South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) takes part in a statewide program to watch and report absences in the schools due to illness such as flu and asthma. This information is passed on to NE Department of Health and Human Services weekly and allows state and local health officials to respond more quickly to disease outbreaks in the schools. In the past, SHDHD has helped schools with higher absence rates to decide a course of action in dealing with illness in their schools. This has included increased and stricter cleaning procedures as well as closing the schools. Seeing the increased absence rates allows us to send information back to the schools as well, to let them know what illnesses are present in the community. Both instances illustrate the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship between the schools and the Health Department.

September 2008                                   September 2009

                             2008 & 2009 comparison

October 2008                                        October 2009

November 2008                                    November 2009

December 2008                                    December 2009

                               Summary Fall - 2009

January 2009                                         January 2010    

February 2009                                       February 2010

March 2009                                            March 2010            

April 2009                                               April 2010 

                               Summary Spring - 2010