School Nurse team meets the challenge
School District Nurses Daniela Ziemer, Emily Henke, and Erin Weaver
By Leslie Nicholson | Sonoma Valley Sun
Performing the duties of a health professional for a school district, and during an unprecedented pandemic, has put a renewed focus on how our own district nurses play a vital role in our community’s safety and well-being.
Working quietly behind the scenes, and always ready to head to any school site where they are needed, are our three District Nurses – Daniela Ziemer, RN, Emily Henke, RN and Erin Weaver, RN.
“While a lot of our work is routine, we also spend a lot of time responding and reacting to whatever needs arise and take precedence, and that changes from hour-to-hour sometimes,” says Henke.
All three earned Bachelor Degrees in Public Health Nursing, Registered Nurse Licenses, credentials required to work as a School Nurse, and training to conduct hearing tests.
During the past year Weaver, Ziemer, and Henke have been proactive in approaching each twist, turn, change, and challenge that the pandemic has presented.
“This year we have been faced with the challenge of knowing ‘what we are trained to do’ and then being faced with how the pandemic has turned that into ‘what we can do.’ As we moved into hybrid learning and students were back on campus, we looked at how we could be most effective,” says Ziemer.
Weaver adds, “We reached out to families with students who have medical conditions, worked out the best way to conduct contact tracing when needed, and kept everyone in the district updated on protocols and procedures about safety practices needed to keep students and staff safe. This will include building on our connection to community partners, continuing to support families, continuing to communicate to teachers and encourage them to reach out to us, and expanding our training efforts to staff to keep them updated on the latest procedures and protocols that impact our students.”
In addition to overseeing the important work regarding the impact of the pandemic, the team spends much of their time supervising Medical Administration and Procedures. They also offer help where needed with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and Child Welfare Checks, and oversee the needs of any students who attend public schools outside of our district, oversee speech services, field trip health and safety requirements, sports health clearances, train coaches on health matters, and train school staff for emergencies, including EPI pen injections and diabetic emergencies.Their job also includes working with Food Services when students have special dietary needs.
“Our priority is to make sure students can access education,” explains Ziemer. “Whatever the student is facing medically, such as a new diagnosis of diabetes, our ultimate goal is to facilitate autonomy for that student. We are there to navigate their way, whether it is an emotional or physical health issue, so that they can have the best educational opportunities.”
“As we move into the next school year we want to keep our focus on the ‘whole child,’ build on our connection to community partners, continue to support families, continue to communicate to teachers and encourage them to reach out to us, and expand our training efforts to staff to keep them updated on the latest procedures and protocols that impact our students,” adds Ziemer.
