AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Back to school doesn’t have to mean back to being sick. WJBF talked to a local nurse practitioner about how to keep your children as healthy as possible.

“At the first sign of a symptom please don’t take them to school please bring them to the facility or to the urgent care and see what’s going with them prior to introducing them back into the school,” said Jina Anderson , Physicians United Urgent Care Nurse Practitioner.

Jina Anderson with Physicians United Urgent Care in Augusta says now that kids are back in the classrooms,  their facility is seeing a variety of illnesses.

“When they come in we test them for gamut of different viruses and we try to educate the parent on what to do ad what not to do depending on what the diagnoses is.”

Tonsillitis, strep throat, and common colds are the main illnesses doctors see when kids are going  back to school, along with other viruses.

“We’ve been seeing some nausea and vomiting  and diarrhea and not that the seasons are changing we’ve been seeing a lot of sinusitis which essentially is a sinus infection.”

Anderson says the goal is to keep parents informed on   measures to take while at home to prevent   sickness  from spreading in schools.

“I always tell parents if you can keep them away from school until the symptom subside and to make sure you’re telling kids not to put their hands in their mouths and to washing their hands.”

Anderson also says regular check ups with your child’s primary doctor is also important.