Every week, school nurse Sharon Beck travels between Landis Elementary School, Millbridge Elementary and Knox Middle.
And she’s not the only one.
With 11 nurses to serve all 35 schools in the Rowan-Salisbury School System, the caregivers have to take on at least three schools, and some have four.
The school system is down one nurse this year due to state budget cuts, which means there is one nurse for every 1,800 students. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends one school nurse per 750 students.
“More students per nurse means we have to go around putting out fires and doesn’t leave as much time for preventative education,” lead school nurse Susan Thomas said.
And when they aren’t putting out fires, the nurses spend the majority of their time training staff how to properly administer and monitor procedures ranging from cauterizations to blood sugar checks.
“Our main job, since we cannot be in each school, is to train the staff to take care of the children,” Thomas said.
Read this weekend’s Post for the complete story.