Registered Nurse Deb Vander Kooi said she enjoys her work as school nurse because it brings something new every day.
By Sara Strong
Deb Vander Kooi wears many hats in her line of work. As the Luverne School nurse, she is part administrator, psychiatrist, disaster aide and mom to the students who enter her office.
And, oddly enough, the little white nurseÕs hat is absent from her wardrobe.
Vander Kooi has held the position for 10 years and deserved recognition Wednesday - National School Nurse Day.
In general, Vander Kooi said she enjoys working with people, and that means she's kept plenty busy with the more than 1,300 students who could have health issues that need addressing.
She sees an average of 50 to 60 students a day, and that's considering other employees help dispense daily prescription medications.
Considering all the students with whom she comes into contact, every day brings a new challenge.
"Each has their frustrations," Vander Kooi said, "but each age group can be fun. The grade-schoolers are fun, but the high school students have neat insights."
Before her start as a school nurse, Vander Kooi spent nine years working as a hospital nurse. She's also taught the vocational nursing courses at Luverne High School and helped set up the nursing program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Pipestone.
Much of her hospital work time was spent in the emergency room. "That was a change. Here, just because someone had a stomach ache didn't mean they had appendicitis," she said.
"The biggest transition was being on my own. There are no other nurses to talk to or doctors to ask questions when they're on rounds."
Even though some of her patients' symptoms are less alarming, some chronic illnesses need serious care.
She's developed specific plans for students with severe allergies, seizure disorders or asthma where doctors, parents, teachers and other school staff are aware of the conditions.
In other words, her days are filled with much more than scraped elbows and wet pants.
Along with responding to individual health problems, Vander Kooi has a long list of standard duties. She deals with immunizations, education of blood-borne pathogens and teen pregnancies, along with regular screenings for things like vision, preschool readiness, and scoliosis.
Vander Kooi refers students to family doctors, Public Health or eye doctors when she sees a reason for further examination. SheÕs also called upon in cases of suspected anorexia, for example, because a school nurse might have the only ongoing height and weight charts on a child.
"I don't get in classrooms very often, mainly because I don't have time," Vander Kooi said.
Because she sees students who need help, she realizes that her view of the student population may be slightly warped.
"I see 10 percent of the kids 90 percent of the time," Vander Kooi said.
She even knows some parents' work schedules and phone numbers by heart because she's in contact with them so much for ongoing problems.
But, then again, there's always the occasional finger-stuck-in-the-test-tube to mix things up a bit.