Whitman Families Receive Free "Smart" Thermometers
Whitman Elementary School families recently were armed with powerful weapons to combat the flu - among other health challenges - thanks to the efforts of school nurse Jennifer Simpson and physical education teacher Adam Clark. The pair learned of the Kinsa company, producer of “kinsas”- state of the art thermometers that work with cell phones to convey information on flu-like symptoms including fever, in real time - and the company’s FLUency Program.
The free school health program outfits parents with kinsa thermometers, which help them more readily detect and prevent the spread of illnesses, by mitigating and minimizing the effect of illnesses. They even can enter the symptoms into the company’s app. More than 150 Whitman families took advantage of the giveaway as one of a handful of schools in the country that were invited to take part in the wellness initiative.
“The devices arm parents with valuable information about their child’s health,” Clark said, “so they can better make decisions to keep their children out of school and prevent a flu outbreak, for instance. Families can report various symptoms anonymously – strep throat, fever, even head lice – using the devices to help school nurses, teachers and administrators better gage what’s going on with specific grade levels or with the school population as a whole.”
“We are hopeful that the smart thermometers will help us cut down on school absences, as we head into cold and flu season, and lower the calls we need to make to parents,” Whitman principal Ray Anderson said. “The kinsas provide an extra line of defense for us to monitor and improve the overall health and wellness of our staff, students and the Whitman community. We are indebted to Nurse Simpson and Mr. Clark for spearheading our involvement this initiative and are grateful to Kinsa for their extraordinary donation.”
To learn more about Kinsa’s FLUency program, please visit: https://www.kinsahealth.com/enterprise/kinsa-for-schools
Pictured: Whitman Elementary Schools students show off their newly obtained “kinsas,” smart-thermometers that will aid in monitoring their health and in keeping them in school.
Pictured: Whitman Elementary Schools students show off their newly obtained “kinsas,” smart-thermometers that will aid in monitoring their health and in keeping them in school.