Lindsey Minchella sent me this great example of how school nurses impact our students even during summer vacation. Lessons from the health office continue beyond the school year!
My husband Dennis and I left the NASN conference last Monday and headed for Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver. Red Rocks is a beautiful, really cool place. After hiking, I visited the restroom. I turned off the water tap with the back of my hand. A girl (about 10) asked: “are you a school nurse?”. I said yes. She said, “my school nurse tries to get us to do stuff like that.”
. We had a good conversation about why the school nurse wants her to do “stuff like that”. She said “like so I won’t get a disease from someone else’s hand germs”. She gets it!!!
Bio: Lindsey Minchella, MSN, RN, NCSN, FNASN
I have worked as a Registered Nurse since 1975. Work has included: hospital staff nursing (internal medicine), Purdue University clinic nursing, home care nursing (Visiting Nursing Service), and Special Needs School Nursing (for the past 28 years). I “retired” from work as a special education school nurse coordinator in June 2013 but have continued to work in that field as a school nurse consultant. In addition, I am on the Executive Committee of the National Association of School Nurses’ (NASN) Board of Directors, chair of NASN’s Special Needs School Nurses Special Interest Group. I serve on the advisory board of NASN’s publication, NASN School Nurse, am the Indiana liaison for the National Board for the Certification of School Nurses, and serve on the Indiana Association of School Nurses Board of Directors. I was inducted as a Fellow of the National Academy of School Nurses in 2014.
I consider myself a public health nurse. My passion as a nurse has been to work with populations to teach about best practice health care. In school nursing, I have concentrated on students, their parents, and the staff who work with them (teachers, therapists, school nurses,etc.). I feel strongly about coordinating care and partnerships, and networking. I consult via the internet, present papers and posters, and write about school nursing.
