School nurses, perhaps best known for bandaging scraped knees and administering doses of TLC, are experiencing expanding roles in the school setting.

Today is School Nurse Day, which recognizes more than 800 public, private and parochial school nurses in Missouri who provide services on a daily basis to over 750,000 school-age students.

More and more, school nurses serve as resources for teachers, said Linda Goodman, head nurse for Cape Girardeau public schools. For example, she said, February is dental health month. Nurses working at the elementary level will do some teaching in classrooms. Nurses have taught CPR and other first-aid courses.

"I have talked to classes about AIDS," Goodman said.

Building on that classroom duty, Jeannie Heise, nurse at Central High School, has been working with a school system committee to expand the health curriculum.

"The push is toward a full health class, where as now our health class goes hand-in-hand with PE," Heise said.

The proposed curriculum would encompass grades kindergarten through 12.

Goodman said among other changes for nurses is the severity of health problems that children bring to school.

"I can't remember ever seeing as many kids with diabetes," she said. "And we have lots of asthmatics. We have kids coming to school in wheelchairs. You just didn't see those types of things years ago. We're being challenged all the time."

Add to the list a state law that requires students to be properly immunized before attending school. Nurses keep track of student immunization records. "That's a year-round job," Goodman said.

They also conduct a variety of health screenings prescribed by the state.

The nurses have an advocacy role also. For example, Goodman said, "After we do vision screening we try to provide eye glasses through the different agencies for those kids who need help getting them."

While school nurses' roles may be expanding, Goodman said, the bulk of their time is still spent doing what they know best. "Mostly we just see sick kids."