Jeanna Johnston is a School Nurse at both Mills River Elementary and Etowah Elementary in Henderson County, Carolina.
What time does your day start?
Between 7:30am and 8:00am. After checking my mail, email and other correspondence for urgent messages, there’ll usually already be students in need of care, especially those with chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes. I administer medication daily to these students.
How busy are you?
There are always injuries to check on, teachers and assistants to train in basic care, doctors and parents who need to be contacted about student health issues, and much more.
Time for many breaks?
Breaks from the action are few and far between. Just this week, I found myself giving a child an inhaler while another was throwing up in my office. School Nurses also teach classes in our schools.
How many School Nurses in Henderson County?
There are currently 14 nurses working in the 23 public schools in Henderson County. To meet demand, most of them spend the morning at one school and the afternoon at another. This keeps us all very busy.
What time does your day end?
The day ends around 4:30 pm, either at the school or at the Department of Health and Human Services for a meeting or documentation of the day’s events. Though we primarily serve the schools, School Nurses are employed by the County department, so there is often work to do outside of school.
---
Would you like to share a day in your life as a School Nurse?
How do you go about helping improve the health and wellbeing of students? What’s your biggest challenge? What support do you need to do a better job as a School Nurse?
At Student First Aid we recognise and celebrate the good work of School Nurses. Each month we interview a dedicated School Nurse.
If you’re interested, please email help@studentfirstaid.com.au to arrange a quick and easy phone interview.