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5 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,A pril 4,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca 85 BRIDGEPORT RD. E. WATERLOO (Across from the Bridgeport Rd. Plaza) Since 1971 519-893-8118 MON., TUES., WED. 10 AM - 6 PM THURS., FRI. 10 AM - 8 PM SATURDAY 9 AM - 5 PM SUNDAY 12 PM - 4 PM Furniture & Mattresses Since 1971 LOFTY IDEAS FOR SMALL SPACES NEED HELP DOWNSIZING? DISCOVER OUR CLASSIC,CONTEMPORARY AND TRANSITIONAL STYLES FOR ANY SIZE SPACE 279 Weber St. N. Suite 17 Waterloo, ON N2J 3H8 519-884-4200 kwfoot.com People with damaged nails tend to be embarrassed and are consistently trying to find ways to hide them. Damage to the nail can be a result of infection, surgery, radiation, trauma, or a sports or childhood injury. In most cases nails have stopped growing or they are distorted, thickened or split. Now, there is a procedure available that can improve both the growth and the aesthetic appearance of the nail. Nail regeneration procedure is designed for people that have partially damaged nails. This procedure takes advantage of the healthy remains of the nail bed to stimulate nail re-growth. Even with a small portion of the healthy nail bed remaining, this procedure can be effectively used to initiate full nail regeneration. Removal of the damaged tissue is done gradually, in small elliptical portions stimulating cellular growth and nail elongation with minimum pain to the patient. This procedure is done in a clinical setting under local anesthetic with no down time and the patient can walk immediately after the procedure. Services covered under extended health plans Serge Petrusic BSc, DCh, Chiropodist Visit kwfoot.com to learn more or call 519-884-4200 Doctors referral not necessary Nail Regeneration Procedure Kitchener school board trustee Mike Ramsay questions whether there's any correlation between student and teacher ab- senteeism and wonders how people can credibly encourage kids to show up when their teachers aren't doing so. According to a recent report, teachers at Water- loo Region's two local pub- lic school boards called in sick for just over 10 days on average during the last school year. The boards were forced to take the un- usual approach of filling the gap by hiring non-cer- tified emergency replace- ments to supervise class- rooms. "It's concerning; any type of absenteeism is concerning," said Ram- say. "We've had a huge in- crease in the number of teachers that are off also." Ramsay wouldn't attri- bute absenteeism to a spe- cific factor - "Kudos to the administration of the schools for trying to tack- le it," he said. Letters sent home to parents earlier this week encourage parents to look at their child's attendance from the first-term report card that was sent home a few weeks ago. "We en- courage you to have a dis- cussion with your child about this important is- sue." John Shewchuk, chief managing officer for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, said he wasn't aware of any mea- sures being taken by the Catholic board to address student absenteeism at this time. "We do closely monitor student attendance and have a number of process- es in place to engage with them when the number of absences start to creep up," Shewchuk said. "Gen- erally speaking, our level of persistent student ab- senteeism is below the provincial average. Some years we'll have more ab- sences than others due to the level of virulence of the various winter bugs that float around. But out- side of those, there are ab- sences for other reasons, and those are the ones that sometimes require special attention." That special attention can come in a variety of forms, from the involve- ment of student success teachers, to the use of so- cial workers. "But, as with any issue such as this, it makes more sense to work up- stream and address any potential issues of persis- tent absenteeism before they turn into real absen- teeism," Shewchuk said, adding, "As we speak, we are actively working to build specific goals and actions into our new well- being plan to add a solid measure of prevention and mitigation into the mix." With files from Metro- land News Service NEWS Continued from page 4