...considering, heeding, listening, nurturing,
cherishing, fostering, nourishing, protecting, nursing...Is that not what we do --
everyday -- as school nurses? We care, not only for the individual student as a whole
person, but also the whole community that is his world. How do we go about this caring,
and have the courage to be innovative in our practice? Like the Cowardly Lion from The
Wizard of Oz, we find our courage through our deeds.
- We care for our
students. We provide the basics:
screenings, mandated programs, first aid, illness care, counseling, education. We also
provide listening, nurturing, heeding, protecting. We bandage their cuts and abrasions --
and their wounded pride...(We) assess their level of wellness -- like the school nurse
from California who developed a Hepatitis B immunization program for their school, which
has now become a national model...We call their parents -- and track them down when
they're not at home...We support our students' successes and assist them to become
successful through improved or maintained health -- because health and education are
intertwined. We initiate and conduct support groups and peer counseling groups...like the
school nurse who started a grief support group the year there were several deaths and
suicides in her district. We
care about our students.
- We care about the staff
in our schools. We
advise them about their own health...provide education and in-service regarding specific
students, specific conditions, emergency plans, disaster plans.
- We care for the
administration in our schools. Like the school nurse who developed an emergency plan for an
administrator with a serious heart condition... We spend long hours -- usually our own
time -- writing or revising policies and procedures to make our schools safe places for
students and staff.
- We care about the
parents and families of students. We support their efforts to provide safe, nurturing homes...We
provide case management, working with families to ensure that the child's needs are met --
like our 1996 National School Nurse of the Year, who worked in the community to develop
needed services for her students.
- We care about our
communities. We facilitate community-based school health
advisory boards... volunteer our time and provide our expertise to committees and boards
of directors in agencies, religious institutions, charitable organizations and citizen
groups.
- We care about our peers. We participate with them in defining our
professional practice. We work to expand our roles and our recognition. We plan, provide
and participate in professional development activities... we support our colleagues'
efforts as change agents in their schools.
- And we must also care
about ourselves.
We need to have strength -- courage of conviction -- to advance ourselves and our
profession. We must take time to nurture ourselves... to sustain ourselves in our busy,
stressful lives.
Where does
"courage" fit into this?
What is the second part of the equation -- the courage to care?... And why do we need
courage? Because we are the link between education and health care, the role of the school
nurse is more important today than every before. As we approach the millennium, we need to
face our many challenges with:
- The ability to define our role
- The strength to resist confusion
- And the courage to make the changes
which will lead to better health and education outcomes for our students.
...The new paradigm for health care is a holistic view of the body, mind and spirit in
balance. For nursing, this means independent, process-dominated practice where the nursing
services are based on the individual's human response to the present health status or
situation. Or, as Ms. Wesorik (Bonnie Wesorik, author of The Closing and Opening of a
Millennium: A Journey from Old to New Thinking), puts it: "Being there at the
right time, intervening in the right way with the right resources to support
healing."
Nursing and school nursing are
headed in the direction of more independent practice. We, as school nurses, cannot afford
to isolate ourselves from the world, but must unite in our efforts to be change agents,
health care policy makers and key participants in health care and education reform. Do we
have the courage to define, express and support changes in our practice? We must propose
and instigate the changes ourselves, or change will be thrust upon us... We must
strengthen our position in the dual worlds of nursing and education. We must continue to
design our professional agenda and to be instrumental in addressing needed changes...
During the next two years, as President of the National Association of School Nurses, I
will dedicate myself to work toward meeting the goals of our strategic plan... this time
for the millennium. We will continue to work on the structure of our organization in
anticipation of an increasing need for members' services and the necessity of positioning
ourselves for acting to meet the needs of our students... to meet the needs of our
members... We will set our
professional agenda.
There are many among us with
vision, but vision without action is just a dream. We must have both if we are to achieve
our goals.
Do you have the courage
to care? |
