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Many people around the school may know Nurse Kate and Nurse Kelly, our lovely school nurses. They both make a great team taking care of every single student and staff here at HB.
How long have you been a school nurse?
Kate: At HB I’ve been a school nurse for two years now and I was at the elementary school for three years and prior to that I had fifteen years of pediatric experience.
Kelly: Nine years here, this is my ninth year and then I worked before that and I piggybacked a little at a hospital in the med surg floor in Manchester.
Do you work as a nurse at a hospital?
Kelly: This is full time now, I don’t work at another job as a nurse.
Kate: Neither do I.
Why become a school nurse?
Kate: The hours are definitely a draw, having the same vacation time as my kids is definitely an attraction for me, I like working with high school students, it’s a different kind of nursing .
Kelly: I feel the same, I changed from the hospital to school nursing just because it’s better for the family. I used to work nights and sometimes had to do the holidays and weekends and I just wanted to focus on family, so this is very nice.
What’s your favorite part about being a school nurse?
Kelly: The students. Because there is a lot of paperwork, but that is my least favorite part of it. It’s actually having the different conversations and getting to meet all types of kids.
Kate: Same for me.
Do you have another job outside of school?
Kelly: I do not. Sometimes I’ll pick up a couple hours through SAU41 for summer school. Sometimes they need a nurse during summer school.
Kate: I do some health coaching on the side also but not as a formal position outside of full-time.
Can students become a TA for a school nurse?
Kelly: That’s a complicated question. The best I can say is to be determined.
What do you usually have to deal with on a day to day basis?
Kate: You never know, it depends. There are things that we see everyday like medication administration, but then we see injuries and people that are sick or people that need an emotional time out, lots of different things.
Kelly:And then on top of that we have to make sure that everyone is immunized like all the records are up to date and there are students here that have certain medical conditions and need to make sure we maintain certain medical documentation.
What is your most notable memory as an HB nurse?
Kate: I don’t know if I have one yet. I think for me though what stands out the most is the group of people not only that I see here as kids and how polite and respectful everyone is, but also how the staff and how much they care about the students and teaching and what a remarkable group of people I get to work with everyday.
Kelly: We usually see students when they’re not feeling well or not at their best. Last year I had the opportunity to go to NYC with Mr. Barbosa and Mr.Rogers and they brought the band and choir and got to see the students in a different light and doing stuff they really enjoy so I got to see a different side of the students. For me it was great to see.
As you can see, Nurse Kate and Nurse Kelly are some really wonderful people and love to spend time with their families. But most importantly they love working here at HB and enjoy getting to know students on their good and bad days.
