Questions & Answers
Phone Call --summary ...
Hi Michelle,
The
school just called and said my child has head lice and is sitting in
the office for me to pick up. Do schools pay to get rid of head lice? I
know they get money each day a child is in school and lose it when the
child is absent.
If they don't, can you do it for free? I don't have any money to get it done.
~ a mom
Hi there ~
Each
school district is different depending on their funding. You would need
to call your child's school district to find out their policies. As school districts are becoming more aware of the financial impact of lice-related absenteeism, they are becoming more likely to help you pay for the services.
Some social service agencies will pay for treatment for their clients. If you have such a social service connection, please ask them about their policies.
Unfortunately,
I can't do it for free. Non-paying customers would take the space we
need to fill with paying customers. We must bring in enough money so we
can cover our overhead and stay in business.
~Michelle
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Recent emails ~
Dear Michelle,
I need your help. My son has head lice again! After you treated him a week ago he passed head checks at the school. Like you recommended, I comb his hair with a lice comb every night and haven't seen them before, but tonight I saw three huge lice the size of ants in his hair. I don't know how I could have missed them. Why does he have lice again so soon?
~ a mom
Dear (mom),
You're doing great! By using a lice comb nightly you quickly found lice that climbed aboard from some other source. They did not grow to that size in a week. It takes 21 days from nit to ant-size lice.
Just remove those lice and your son will be fine. Be sure to keep combing and looking for small lice, as those few lice may have laid eggs before you found them. Just remove any new lice and your son won't become a breeding ground.
You need to keep at it, because somebody (or somebodies) your son is around has lice and are sharing them with him.
~Michelle
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Dear Michelle,
I am at wits end! I am a daycare provider and a few weeks ago found that some of the children had lice! I closed every thing down and sent the children home for a few days while I washed every thing in the house and cleaned as good as I could, but now find the children again have lice and so do my daughter and I! I don't know what to do.
Dear Daycare Provider,
You need to have a policy of daily checking the hair of each child in the morning before the parent leaves. If you find lice on a child, don't let the child stay at all. In a daycare setting where children play so closely together, one child can spread lice to all of the other children, your daughter, and you.
Another possibility is that your daughter may have brought head lice home from school and passed them on to your charges! By looking at the level of infestation and the size of the lice on all of their heads, you can determine who has had lice the longest.
~Michelle
