School Nursing

The Relentless School Nurse: Defending Public Health is Exhausting

 

 

The challenges of being a school nurse have never been clearer than depicted in this picture of Rebecca Christensen presenting to her Baraboo, Wisconsin school board.  As Nurse Christensen provides testimony at the board of education meeting to support continued public health mitigation strategies in the coming year, parents protest her request. One of the signs held up, but not visible in this photo, is “Masks are Child Abuse.” 

Here is the original article that included the photo:

Baraboo school nurses report fewer visits, less flu amid ‘different’ year

School nurses have fought the pandemic on multiple fronts. We have battled the invisible virus on the frontline of face-to-face school. We have battled the barrage of misinformation that spread as quickly as the virus to those who were getting their health news from conspiracy theorists and pseudo-scientists. We fought battle fatigue as the scope and length of the pandemic continued month after month.  

As we plan for our 2021-2022 school year, the battle continues. I am typing the words “battle” and it is a chilling reminder of how weary we are from all that has happened and continues to happen. We will hold the line, centering safety based on public health measures. But why must we fight a portion of the public that does not believe us? Frankly, it is exhausting. Onward…

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