The Graphic Arts Benefit Corporation (GABC) is a unique health benefits program serving the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia areas.

We offer a number of medical plans or supplement coverage with dental care, vision care or disability benefits. Group term life insurance completes your range of options.

We are proud to offer Competitive Rates, Comprehensive Coverage, and Superior Service!

Sincerely,

Gerard McGeehan
President, GABC

Back-to-School Preparations

It’s official — as evidenced by the ads on TV and in the papers, it’s Back to School time in America! You have likely begun stocking up on your children’s school supplies, clothes, and backpacks for the upcoming academic year. Schools are often very specific about the supplies your child needs- some even offer one-stop-shopping so you can order a pre-packaged box of supplies for your child’s new grade level.

But what about you, moms and dads? Are you ready for a new year? Are you organized and prepared and ready to take on the daily grind of the upcoming academic year? Here’s your Back to School list to make sure you start out on the right foot.

Dry erase calendar and markers
Assign a color to each family member and keep track of doctor’s appointments, practices, tests, and playdates. Don’t forget to schedule yourself in there, too!

Colored folders
Again, assign a color to each member of your family and keep class lists, sports schedules, and other important papers in one place. You’ll never shuffle through a pile of papers again!

Homework baskets
Get a basket for each child and make this the drop box for homework, forms, and permission slips that you need to see or sign. Show your children where to drop all these important papers each day and avoid scrambling at the last minute.

Healthy snacks
Once our routines pick up the pace, we tend to drop the healthy habits we establish when we have more time. Don’t let this happen to you or your family! Stock up on low-fat granola bars, trail mix, and other healthy snacks to maintain your energy and your children’s energy.

Back-up school supplies
How many times has your child suddenly jumped from the dinner table to announce he needs a specific school supply and he needs it tomorrow! Keep index cards, poster board, a box of markers, sharpened pencils, glue sticks, a calculator, and construction paper in a closet- away from every day use. This should serve as your emergency supply only!

New shoes…for you!
Invest in a new pair of comfortable shoes- the school year is about to start and you know that means you won’t rest again until next summer!

Enjoy the last few days of summer and get ready for a great year!

The beginning of a new school year can be a stressful time for children, with new teachers and classmates, bigger classrooms, new routines and more schoolwork. This time can be particularly unnerving and overwhelming for children who are facing major transitions such as starting elementary school or entering middle school. As a parent there are proactive steps you can take to support your child as he or she heads back to school.

• Express interest and enthusiasm about the start of the school year. If you are confident and excited, your child will be too.
• If you have visited your child’s school already, you are one step ahead of the game. If not, take a walk around the school with your child and locate his or her classrooms, lunchroom, playground and restrooms. This will help keep your child from feeling lost on the first day.
• Take time to listen to your child and discuss aspects of the new school year that he or she is worried about. Remember to let your child know that it’s normal to feel nervous about the start of school. For parents of younger children, suggest that your child take a family photo or special object to school to make his or her surroundings more comfortable.
• Spend time each day talking to your child about what happened in school. Give your child positive feedback about his or her new experiences.
• Praise and encourage your child to become involved with school activities and try new things.
• Attend school functions and stay involved in your child’s education. Children whose parents are more involved with their education have higher achievement, are better adjusted and are less likely to drop out of school.
• Make a point to learn about how your child develops not just physically, but socially and emotionally, as well. If you are aware of what’s typical behavior and thoughts for your child’s stage of life, you will be able to tell more readily when things may not be right.

Anxiety and stress about starting school is normal for a child and usually passes within the first few days or weeks. If your child continues to seem anxious or stressed, it may be time to seek help. Talk to your child’s pediatrician about what you can do as a parent. If problems persist, consider a referral to a trained and qualified mental health professional.

Health Problems in School

When potentially contagious health problems appear at school, the health of your child must be considered along with the health of other children and school staff. Some health disorders are of particular concern in schools. Prob­lems like head lice can spread from one child to another rather easily and thus can become mini-epidemics in classrooms. Other conditions, like AIDS, are much more serious, but concerns about the transmission of the AIDS virus in school have created more anxiety than is warranted. Some childhood disor­ders (including colds, sore throats, chicken pox, and impetigo) are dealt with in more detail elsewhere on this site.

Head Lice
Head lice are crawling insects, only about one-sixteenth of an inch long that live and multiply in human hair. Lice are not a major health problem, since they do not transmit diseases or cause permanent problems. Nonetheless, the reaction of parents, and sometimes of school staff, has made them a signifi­cant health issue.

Lice make their home in human hair, nourishing themselves with blood from the scalp. They can cause reddened, rash like areas. The average number of lice on an infected child's head is about ten. Their eggs (called nits) stub­bornly attach to the hair shafts—most often in the back of the head or near the ears—and cannot be shaken or brushed off.

When should you suspect lice? Your child may complain of a very itchy scalp, although lice may be present for weeks or months without causing an itch. If you look carefully at her head, you should be able to see the eggs, al­though some parents may confuse them with dandruff. (Dandruff, however, tends to be loose flakes of skin, while nits firmly attach themselves to the hair.)

Lice are quite contagious and can be spread quickly by close contact with a friend or classmate, almost always by head-to-head contact. Routine head in­spections by school personnel usually miss all but the worst cases.

Lice can be difficult to treat. Your doctor may prescribe a treatment or rec­ommend a nonprescription anti-lice shampoo or rinse containing a substance called pyrethrins. Follow the instructions carefully. Your child will probably need to vigorously scrub in the shampoo, working up a good lather, and then rinse thoroughly. This treatment can often take care of both the lice and their eggs, although a second application may be required several days later. Do not treat longer than the manufacturer or your physician recommends. Unfortu­nately, many lice have developed resistance to most pesticide medication in common use.

Although lice move quickly away from any disturbance in dry hair, thor­oughly wetted, their mobility is much reduced. Fine-tooth combing after ordi­nary shampooing is a simple way to lift out lice. Repeating this process every three to four days for two weeks is usually effective in ridding a child of head lice. Combing your child's hair with a fine-tooth comb can also remove some nits, as can pulling them off with your fingernails. Be sure to wash the comb thoroughly or soak it in anti-lice shampoo before anyone else uses it.
The presence of lice does not mean that your child has poor hygiene habits. Anyone can get lice, even if she bathes or shampoos every day. As a preven­tive measure, discourage your child from sharing combs, brushes, towels, or hats with friends.

Many schools have policies about children with lice. In most of these schools, students with live lice are sent home when the lice are discovered; those students who have only nits and no live lice are usually sent home at the end of the day with a note, although it is likely that if nits are present in a child who has not received treatment, live lice are also there. Students can be read­mitted to school once they have been treated. Some schools have "no-nit" poli­cies, stating that students who still have nits in their hair cannot return to school; however, since many anti-lice shampoos effectively kill the nits, many schools do not feel this extra restriction is needed.

Cooperate with the elementary or middle school by notifying the staff if your child has become infected. Although school personnel and parents used to overreact to the presence of head lice in the classroom, this type of response is hopefully a thing of the past. Most people now recognize that lice can happen to anyone and do not pose an emergency situation.

Fifth Disease
Fifth disease (Parvovirus B19) is a viral disease that causes a lacy-appearing rash on the arms and creates a "slapped cheeks" look on the face. Since chil­dren rarely feel sick with this disease and are contagious only before they de­velop the rash, there is no reason to exclude them from school unless they feel too ill to attend class. This disease can be dangerous for a developing fetus, so whenever a case is detected, all female school employees should be notified. It can also be more serious for people with some hereditary disorders, such as sickle-cell disease, that affect red blood cells.

AIDS/HIV Infection
AIDS/HIV infection is an increasingly common, life-threatening infection that affects children as well as adults. Unfortunately, there is widespread but un­warranted anxiety among parents whose children attend school with a young­ster with AIDS, fearing that their own child may contract the disease. The AIDS virus (human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV) is transmitted only through blood, blood products, and sexual contact. Casual physical contact—includ­ing touching or holding hands with someone with AIDS, or sharing a drinking glass—will not transfer the AIDS virus.

Your child will not be in danger if she attends school with someone with AIDS, even if she plays with the same toys or is exposed to coughing or sneez­ing. There is not a single documented case of the transmission of AIDS from child to child, or teacher to child, in the school setting. To allay parental con­cerns and to significantly lower the risks, schools have implemented proce­dures for dealing with the blood and other bodily fluids of all staff and students. Children with AIDS whose pediatricians have approved their atten­dance pose no danger to their peers and should attend school.

Hepatitis
Hepatitis is an infection of the liver, spread by a virus. Its symptoms include jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the skin), loss of appetite, nausea, weak­ness, and abdominal pain. There are several major types of hepatitis—types A, B, and C—and while all are cause for concern, hepatitis A tends to occur most often among children. These viruses are present in the blood and in bowel movements; thus, children should wash their hands after every bowel movement and before eating. As with AIDS, precautions should also be taken around the blood of infected individuals.
Children infected with acute hepatitis A should remain at home until one week after the onset of their illness and until jaundice (yellow skin color) has disappeared. Youngsters who are hepatitis B or C carriers but are symptom-free can attend school.

Chicken Pox
Chicken pox is a common viral disease among children. Although youngsters are contagious before they break out with skin lesions, they should not return to school until the sixth day after the rash has appeared, or sooner if all the le­sions have dried and crusted. Vaccines to prevent chicken pox are available and safe. All school-age children who have not had chicken pox should be immunized. Widespread use of this vaccine will make chicken pox much less common in school-aged children.

It should come as no surprise that success — or failure — at school starts at home. Studies have linked poor academic performance to factors such as a lack of sleep, poor nutrition, obesity, and a lack of parental support.

The good news is that those same studies also show higher test scores for students who live in homes where healthy habits, regular routines, and good communication exist.  How can you ensure your child heads off to school this fall with the best possible foundation? Follow these 10 tips and watch your child thrive.

Enforce Healthy Habits
You can’t perform well when you don’t feel good. To help your child have the best chance at doing well in school, make sure she follows healthy habits at home. Choose a bedtime that will give your child plenty of sleep, and provide a healthy breakfast each morning. Encourage exercise, and limit the amount of time she spends watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, or using the computer.

Stick to a Routine
Most kids thrive on structure and will respond well to routines that help them organize their days. In our house, for example, my son gets dressed, makes his bed, and eats breakfast while I make his lunch and pack his school bag with completed homework and forms. When he gets home in the afternoon, I serve him a snack and he does his homework while I prepare dinner. Your routines may differ, but the key is to make it the same every day so your child knows what to expect.

Create a “Launch Pad”
Veteran parents know it’s important to have a single place to put backpacks, jackets, shoes, lunchboxes, and school projects each day. Some call it a “launch pad,” while others call it a “staging area.” Our area is a hook by the back door.
Whatever you call it, find a place where your child can keep the items he needs for school each day and keep him organized. Then you’ll know right where to find everything during the morning rush.

Designate a Space
At school your child has a desk or table where she works. There is plenty of light, lots of supplies, and enough room to work. Why not provide her with the same type of environment for homework? A designated homework space often makes it easier and more fun for children to complete assignments at home. A desk is great, but a basket of supplies and a stretch of kitchen counter work just as well.

Read, Again and Again
It is often said that children spend the first several years learning to read, and the rest of the lives reading to learn. The written word is a gateway to all kinds of learning, and the more you read to your child, the better chance he has of becoming a proficient and eager reader.

Try to sit down with your child to read a little bit every day, give him plenty of opportunities to read out loud to you, as well, and above all have fun. While the importance of reading with your child cannot be stressed enough, it should not be the cause of stress.

Learn Always
Your child may be past the preschool years, but home education is still a critical part of his overall learning experience. “Some of the attitude recently is that it’s up to the schools and teachers to figure it all out, to make sure children are learning and healthy and safe,” says Barbara Frankowski, M.D., MPH, FAAP, and member of the AAP Council on School Health. “There’s only so much teachers can do. Parents have to fill in with good support at home.”

Look for ways to teach your child throughout the day. For example, cooking combines elements of math and science. Use the time when you make dinner as an opportunity to read and follow directions, to discuss fractions, to make hypotheses (“What will happen when I beat the egg whites?”), and to examine results.

Take the Lead
Children learn by example. Let your kids “catch” you reading. Take time to learn a new skill and discuss the experience with them. Sit down and pay bills or do other “homework” while your kids do their schoolwork.
If you display a strong work ethic and continually seek out learning opportunities for yourself, your kids will begin to model that same behavior in their own lives.

Talk Often
Do you know how your child feels about her classroom, her teacher, and her classmates? If not, ask her. Talk with her about what she likes and doesn’t like at school. Give her a chance to express her anxieties, excitements, or disappointments about each day, and continue to support and encourage her by praising her achievements and efforts.

Show Interest
Don’t limit your support to your child; extend it to her teachers as well. Meet the teachers and stay in regular contact by phone or e-mail so that you can discuss any concerns as they arise. Not only will it pave the way for you to ask questions, but it will also make the teachers more comfortable with calling you if they have concerns about your child.

Expect Success
Perhaps the most important way you can support your child’s efforts at school is to expect him to succeed. That doesn’t mean that you demand he be the best student or the best athlete or the best artist. Rather, let him know that you expect him to do “his best” so that he’ll be proud of what he can accomplish.
If you make that expectation clear and provide a home environment that promotes learning, then your child will have a greater chance of becoming the best student he can be.

Along with books and bedtimes, it’s time to think about your child’s health — before that school bell rings