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September 15, 2009
Dear Parent:
As you may know, flu can be easily spread from person to person. Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the spread of flu in the Llano Independent School District. As the Llano County public health authority I am working closely with Dennis Hill, LISD Superintendent. We want to keep the school open to students and functioning in a normal manner during this flu season. But, we need your help to do this.
Mr. Hill and I will continue to work closely with the individual schools, Llano Memorial Healthcare System, and the local offices of the Texas Department of State Health Services to monitor flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to take concerning schools. We will keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.
County officials in conjunction with Llano Memorial and the school district are planning a town hall meeting to provide additional information on flu preparedness. Look for details in your local papers as to when and where this meeting will be held as well as at www.llanomemorial.org and www.llano.k12.tx.us.
For now we are doing everything we can to keep our schools functioning as usual. Here are a few things you can do to help:
Teach your children to wash their hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub. You can set a good example by doing this yourself.
Teach your children not to share personal items like drinks, food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and sneezes with tissues. Covering up their coughs or sneezes using the elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is unavailable.
Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.8 degrees Celsius or greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and feeling very tired. Some people may also vomit or have diarrhea.
Keep sick children at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or do not have signs of fever, without using fever-reducing drugs. Keeping children with a fever at home will reduce the number of people who may get infected.
Do not send children to school if they are sick. Any children who are determined to be sick while at school will be sent home.
If the flu becomes more severe, Llano ISD may take additional steps to prevent the spread such as:
conducting active fever and flu symptom screening of students and staff as they arrive at school,
making changes to increase the space between people such as moving desks farther apart and postponing class trips, and
dismissing students from school for 7 days if they become sick.
For more information visit www.texasflu.org, or call 1-800-CDC-INFO for the most current information about the flu. The Llano Memorial Healthcare System, the hospital and its affiliated clinics, have registered to be providers of the novel H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available in October. The hospital has also been working closely with the county and regional state officials on flu preparedness should we have an outbreak that overwhelms our local resources. As the flu season progresses we will keep you apprised of any changes to our plan at the Llano Memorial Healthcare Systems website www.llanomemorial.org and/or through local media.
Sincerely,
Jack Franklin, MD
Llano County Public Health Authority
 
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