This article shares a brief history of school nursing from one pandemic to the next, and I am honored to have my work included. The interesting thing is that I never spoke directly to Nicholas Gilmore, the journalist – I missed his messages. He listened to a podcast I did on RN-Mentor and read recent blog posts about COVID. It has taken a pandemic for the nation to understand the importance of school nursing. I can only imagine what the original school nursing pioneers, Lillian Wald and Lina Rogers, would think of what is happening today as we prepare to return to school. I thank them for leading the way and look back to lessons learned from 1918 to move forward through the most consequential time in the current history of school nursing.
One hundred years ago, American school nursing was praised as a public health innovation. School funding cuts have threatened school nurses, while a deadly pandemic proves they could be among the most important figures in education.
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 21st year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the Legislative Co-chair for the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor. Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. These awards include, 2019 and 2020 National Association of School Nurses President’s Award, 2018 NCSN School Nurse of the Year, 2017 Johnson & Johnson School Nurse of the Year, and the New Jersey Department of Health 2017 Population Health Hero Award. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. She was presented the 2018 Rutgers University – Camden Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award for Part-time Faculty. Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. She also writes a monthly column in My American Nurse, the official journal of the American Nurses Association. Robin’s work is included as a case study in The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
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