Nurse Jeannie Haines has been working here since the school opened, but recently she has come across a new problem that has surfaced with the increase in phone usage. With flu season in swing, Haines is not as troubled by students coming into the clinic as much as she is by students not coming. When students feel sick and want to go home, they call or text their parents instead of coming to the nurse’s office.
“If a student isn’t feeling well we certainly understand that,” Haines said. “They want to go home, they’re not feeling well, but they aren’t coming through the nurse’s office. The process is the same from kindergarten to graduation. It’s outlined in the student handbook and hasn’t really changed over the years. It’s only because we want to take care of students in the best way possible.”
Not going to the clinic causes more problems than students probably realize. If multiple students have a contagious sickness and don’t come to the nurse’s office, Haines is also unable to look for high incidents of particular illnesses.
“We absolutely want to know what’s going on with you,” Haines said. “If there’s something contagious, if you’re having an awful day and you need to go home, we understand that. We talk with mom and dad and if they’re in agreement we absolutely do everything we can to help a student go where they need to go.”
Although most students know that the precautions taken are to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible, the main reason people call their parents first is because they think they will not be allowed to go home.
“When I don’t feel good, there’s no way I’m going to stay here when I don’t have to be here,” sophomore Haley Brown said. “I don’t really want to go to the nurse if I know my parents will just come pick me up when I’m sick.”
But Haines encourages communication with the parents and does not want anyone to be at school for any reason if they are not feeling well.
“The first thing I always ask everybody that comes to the clinic is ‘do you want to talk to your mom or dad about it?’” Haines said. “We absolutely want to communicate with parents and nobody is told you can’t go home. I wonder sometimes if students think they aren’t going to be allowed to go home. That’s always the question. If a parent wants to come get their student or wants their student released, that’s what we do. But coming through the nurse’s office is important.”
This is a problem that Haines does not expect to go away on its own.
“I just want students to know that if you’re not feeling well, come see me, let’s get you taken care of and figure out what’s going on and get you home if that’s what we need to do,” Haines said. “Especially my high school students, you guys know what to do and how to take care of things. Why wouldn’t you come see the nurse when there’s a professional right here?”
Loading ...
