What role do school nurses play during the school year?

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – From scraped knees and bruises to fever and upset stomachs, school nurses see it all.

They know education is important, so they do what they can to get students back to learning.

“It’s very important to have because most teachers focus primarily on education. So they have someone to monitor illness of the kid that will help the teacher to stay in the classroom for the education part of it,” said Willie Mae Blanchard.

For some students, a trip to the nurse’s office is a regular part of their school day.

“They administer medication to students that have been diagnosed through a private doctor as far as having ADHD, ADD, asthmatic students, students that have diabetes. Those are the main issues that we have here,” said Kristen Fondren.

But sometimes kids aren’t well enough to go back to class, and that’s when nurses have to make the call.

“If a student comes into the office, they make that medical decision. Anything medical-related we automatically go to our school nurse first because she is the expert on the best practices and what needs may need to be met. And so she makes that decision on if this child is really sick we need to call mom or dad, or this is a child that can stay at school because they are not contagious or they are able to be here,” said Fondren.

As flu season draws closer, their job gets even busier.

“They provide us with information from the CDC as far as best practices that are up-to-date the district also provides hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes to all the teachers to make sure that we are keeping a clean and safe environment for students,” said Fondren.

Of course, it’s not just the kids who can go see the nurse when they’re sick, Kristen Fondren said they are there for the teachers too.

Categories: Local News

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