California Educator

February 2013

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> F E AT U R E 11 am Diabetes Check 12:25 pm Skin Condition 1 pm TB issue 2 pm Teen Mom Meeting 10:30 am Bleeding Hand 2:30 pm IEP Meeting 9:30 am Chemical Burn A day in the life of a school nurse Responsible for more than scraped knees START HERE B Y S H E R RY P O S N I C K - G O O D W I N PHOTOS BY SCOTT BUSCHMAN MONTGOMERY HIGH SCHOOL 9:30 a.m. A student has been burned on her arm by a chemical in science lab. She is holding back tears. ���Let���s call your mom,��� says McGeough reassuringly, after rinsing the arm in water. She calls the parent to explain the injury and asks the parent to call the doctor for follow-up. The parent agrees to make the call immediately; the student returns to class until her parent arrives. 10:30 a.m. A boy comes in with a bleeding hand. He and his friend were horsing around and the friend punched him with his ring. McGeough demonstrates to her health technician how to treat and bandage the small wound. ���Should we bandage the other hand so you���ll have a matching set?��� she asks the student, who laughs and momentarily forgets his discomfort. 11 a.m. A student with Type 1 diabetes checks in to determine whether she has a handle on controlling her blood sugar and insulin. The girl says she checks her blood sugar before lunch and before a snack. Then she shows McGeough her fruit snacks and carbohydrates, needles for checking blood sugar, and insulin pump. McGeough tells the girl she is 10 California Educator February 2013 She doesn���t wear white. And she doesn���t back off if she thinks a student���s health is at risk. Meet school nurse Colette McGeough, who wears sandals instead of sturdy white shoes as she strides briskly through Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa. ���Am I going too fast for you?��� she asks in a lilting Irish accent. ���I walk quickly when I���m putting out ires.��� There are many fires to put out when you are responsible for the well-being of 6,500 students. That is McGeough���s case- McGeough ���nds health insurance and dental insurance for students and their families, as needed. ���astute��� at managing her disease and asks if she can use her as a role model with other diabetic students. McGeough promises to generate a care plan to follow at school. She reviews doctor���s orders and emergency glucagon use with the health technician should the student lose consciousness and be unable to inject herself. 11:30 a.m. McGeough visits special education teacher Margaret Buhn, whom she recently trained to administer Diastat rectally for students with a seizure disorder. The Board of Registered Nursing says only school nurses should administer the drug. However, last year the governor signed SB 161, a bill that allows school employee volunteers to administer the drug with training from a registered nurse. ���We administered Diastat last Thursday behind a curtain and it went smoothly,��� reports Buhn, an SRTA member. ���We���re going to need to do it often, because another student with seizures joined the class.���

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