Oneida County is working to give students a healthy beginning to the 2025-26 school year.
It plans to give Stop-the-Bleed kits (for emergencies involving loss of blood) to schools and to offer vaccines to school-aged kids during mobile vaccine clinics.
“We recognize that residents and families may have some challenges to staying up to date on vaccines,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. In a statement. “This mobile public health unit allows us to remove some of those barriers and lend a helping hand to those in need.”
Mobile vaccination clinics
Children are required to get a number of vaccines on the recommended schedule in order to attend school in New York. Parents may not opt their children out unless they have a valid medical exemption.
“Vaccines are an extremely valuable tool to protect the community and our children from serious and deadly diseases,” said Oneida County Health Director Daniel W. Gilmore in a statement.
New York State requires that children be vaccinated for the following diseases before they start school (although some of the shots contain vaccines for multiple illnesses): diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, heptatis B, haemophilus influenzae type B and pneumococcal pneumonia. Students also need a meningitis vaccine before starting seventh grade.
The vaccine schedule, including the number of doses required, is on the New York State Department of Health website.
The Oneida County Health Department, the Rome City School District and the city of Utica have arranged these mobile vaccination clinics to help parents get their children ready for school:
- August 23: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rome Free Academy, 95 Dart Circle, Rome, for students entering grades nine through 12.
- August 24: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Parkway Recreation Center, 220 Memorial Parkway, Utica for students entering kindergarten through 12 th grade.
- August 28: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rome Free Academy for students entering grades nine through 12.
- August 31: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Gansevoort Elementary School, 758 W. Liberty Street, Rome for students entering kindergarten through fifth grade.
- August 31: 1 to 3 p.m. at Strough Middle School, 801 Laurel Street, Rome for students entering grades six through eight.
Walk-ins may be accepted, but appointments for the clinics are preferred. These can be scheduled by calling the health department at 315-798-3651.
Agencies that wish to host a mobile vaccination clinic may request one on the county health department website .
Stop the Bleed kits
The Oneida County Department of Emergency Services will provide Stop-the-Bleed training to administrators, staff and free kits to every elementary, middle and high school in the county.
“Oneida County is committed to the safety and well-being of our students, teachers and staff,” Picente said in a statement. “By providing free Stop the Bleed kits and training to every school in our county, we are equipping our educational communities with the tools and knowledge they need to respond to emergencies effectively.”
Stop the Bleed is a campaign of the American College of Surgeons to raise public awareness of basic things they can do to stop life-threatening bleeding following everyday emergencies and manmade or natural disasters.
Severe bleeding can kill a person in as little as five minutes, according to Stop the Bleed.
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The initiative was started by a federal interagency work group (with the logo and phrase Stop the Bleed owned by the U.S. Department of Defense). It uses information on trauma learned by the military during the wars in Afghanistan and Iran.
The kits contain:
- Latex-free examination gloves.
This is the first time the county has provided the training and the kits, which are being paid for through a state grant.
The county expects to deliver about 550 kits in this first round.
More information on Stop the Bleed can found here.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Back to school health: Oneida County offering help to families, schools
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