Local School Nurse Receives DPHHS School Health Grant

Krista Glaus, RN, has been named a recipient of a School Health Mini-Grant Award from the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS). She has received $1,000, which will contribute to staff CPR and first aid training in the Whitehall School District.

Glaus provides nursing services to the Whitehall School District, where she works with students and their families to ensure students' health and well-being. She is among a select number of school nurses awarded grants by the DPHHS School Health Program for the 2022-2023 school year. Over the course of the school year, Glaus will use the funds to train school teachers, coaches, and other staff on how to recognize and respond to a cardiac emergency.

Sara Howser-Burke, the DPHHS School Nurse Consultant for the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Bureau, said Glaus deserves the gratitude of her community for taking on this initiative.

"School nurses already have a lot on their plate, especially when there is only one person who is responsible for a large number of students," Howser-Burke said. "These nurses recognize that their efforts can go a long way to help increase the safety and quality of life for both individual students and the school community as a whole."

There are over 700 sudden cardiac arrests in Montana each year and fewer than 100 survive. Nationwide, there are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) annually and nearly 90% of them are fatal. When a person has an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby. Trained employees who can properly and quickly respond to a cardiac arrest before emergency responders arrive can help save a life.

The School Health Mini-Grant Program was created by the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Bureau to assist schools in Montana in creating safe and healthy school environments, which includes implementing evidence-based, chronic disease management training and support policies. Funding is provided by a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state Master Settlement Agreement funding allocated to DPHHS.

Program application information can be found online on the School Health Mini-Grant Program website. The program is available to school nurses, Head Start nurses, city-county public health nurses, certified asthma or diabetes educators, school counselors, and school administrators.

For more information about cardiac arrest in Montana and public health resources available to schools, please visit https://www.dphhs.mt.gov/schoolhealth/safeenvironment/firstaid.