Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
First of all Ms. Gouldman, congratulations for being School Nurse of the Year.
What does being a school nurse mean to you?
Being a school nurse means many different things.
Of course there's the normal tummy aches, headaches,
"I don't feel good, I've hurt myself," and I'm here to help with that access to health care.
I'm also an advocate for students. So if students are having health issues
or issues in the school, or issues with friends or in the community,
I can help them with that. And by working with other people in the school
we can help students become better at school. If you're healthy, you can learn.
If you're not feeling well, it's very hard to learn in school.
How do you see your role as a school nurse in relationship to student educational outcomes?
It's very important that students achieve their goals while in school.
So I work very closely with the other group of professionals, the counselors,
the psychologists, the teachers, the administration, parents, we're
all working toward a common goal of student achievement.
So that you can meet goals that you've set for yourself.
What advice would you give parents to help their child succeed in school?
Parents really are the first role models for students.
So the best thing parents can do for their kids is to live a healthy lifestyle.
If their eating breakfast, if you're exercising, if you're being active,
those are all very important things for our students.
As long as the parents are setting that role, the students will follow it.
Another thing is parents need to be involved in school. Come to school frequently.
Come to the extra-curricular activities and meet the teachers, meet the school nurse,
and as a group we can help work it together.
What does receiving this award mean to you?
Quite an honor. When your peers look at your credentials and look at
what you've been doing and choose you to represent them as the
School Nurse of the Year, it's quite an honor.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yes I would, as time goes on we've noticed there's more and more chronic
health problems in our schools. We're having more diabetics,
more people with serious medical conditions.
That's why a nurse needs to be in school. Because we can help keep the
students out of the hospital setting, help teach the parents and the student
how to deal with chronic health conditions,
keep the kids in school where they can achieve.