Every day, our school nurses support our students with much more than putting band-aids on skinned knees. Every day, our school nurses provide some of our most fragile students with the necessary support to remain at school safe and healthy. Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, our nurses led the charge for Salem-Keizer Public Schools (SKPS) in ensuring we do everything we can to protect our students, staff and families while continuing to provide academic and social and emotional learning opportunities for students.
During the global pandemic they showed up for our students, staff, and district all while still fulfilling their normal duties as well. – Jodi Peterson, RN, District Health Authority
What nurses regularly do
During the regular school year, our school nurses provide ongoing support to our students to ensure their health and safety while in school. School nurses provide many avenues of support for our students and their families. Here are a few examples of support our school nurses provide daily to SKPS:
- Provide a nurse helpline for advice during school hours
- Support students’ health needs at school and create individual health plans based on student needs
- Health education and intervention support (ex: acute illnesses, chronic illnesses, mental health, nutrition, obesity, dental disease, sexually transmitted disease/pregnancy, substance abuse, injuries and emergencies, communicable disease)
- Health education (ex: adolescent pregnancy prevention, exercise, nutrition, oral health, parenting, preventing disease, smoking prevention and cessation, substance use and abuse, mental health support)
- Immunization and manage communicable disease, oversee infection control measures
- Provides trainings for staff and teachers (medication administration–basic medication, epinephrine, glucagon and any other needed training)
- Preventive and screening services, such as vision screens for students
- Serve as a liaison between school, family and community healthcare providers to ensure a healthy school environment
- Making decisions related to delegation of healthcare tasks to support staff
- Create evidence-based policy guidance
National School Nurse Day 2023
We hope you will join us May 10, 2023 in honoring our school nurses for National School Nurse Day! Since 1972, National School Nurse Day aims to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. We are proud of how our school nurses consistently do everything they can to support our students and their physical and mental health needs, so our students can focus on learning.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools Nursing team:
Abigale Talley
Aerial Rice Morgan
Aleda Fairley
Alena Davis
Alexis Garcia
Alfredo Basto
Ariana Bowles
Amanda Jensen
Beth Johnson
Carol Grimwood
Carolyn Schoening
Christina Furqan
Cindy Hoffert
Denise Proudfoot
Elisha Carter
Jackie Fujii
Janis Kauffman
Jennifer Tyree
Jodi Peterson
Julie Drohman
Kim Bauscher
Kristi Klosterman
Kristiina Gagner
Lauren Peters
Lynn Oehler
Marivi Rodriguez‐Lopez
Mark Allgyer
Megan Jackson
Pauli Nash
Reesa Peterson
Rhoda Jantzi
Sarah Dohman
Sarah Hampton
Shannon Hassan
Tatyana Hatzenbihler
Wendi Chase
Wendy MacGregor
