NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Tracey Akers, from Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw, is one of 24 school nurses from the United States and Mexico who recently participated in the 21st annual Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Program.
The nurses were joined by their school principals.The program is an intensive one-week training conference designed to increase school nurses' knowledge of adolescent health issues, the causes and correlates of adolescent risk behaviors, and best practices in creating and managing community health education leadership programs targeted at reducing risky behaviors among adolescents. The program is conducted annually by the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.
Recognizing the leadership role that school nurses play in students' lives, this program provides training on a range of health topics, including alcohol and drug prevention techniques, mental health issues, obesity and HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. Additional topics include the role of nurses in crisis management, legal issues and the effect that substance addiction has on families and adolescents.
