Our New Normal, Volume XIV

For 60-plus years, the back room of McFall Hall, formerly known as Memorial Hall, housed a kitchen and storage facility for Collegiate’s Upper and Middle School cafeteria.
It was off the beaten path, that’s for sure, and unknown to pretty much everyone except delivery truck drivers and the folks who prepared and served our midday repast.

That was then, as they say, and this is now.

With the suspension of meal service, that previously obscure area has been repurposed as an expanded nurse’s office to accommodate students, faculty, and staff on the north side of the creek.

Welcome, my friends, to Volume XIV of the Our New Normal series, compliments of COVID-19, an unwelcomed guest that has lingered far too long.
 
On my visit this particular spring day, I encountered Jana Barnes, a former ICU nurse now in her fifth year at Collegiate, and her associate Christy Mayr, a pediatric nurse practitioner also in year five of her tenure on North Mooreland Road.

So why are you located here rather than your former quarters in the center of activity? I asked.

“We needed space to have separate areas for sick people and well people,” Jana replied. “In the past, we might have someone sick waiting to go home and someone in the same area who might have a headache and just needed to rest for a few minutes.”
 
You have a nice picnic table, chairs, and umbrella just outside your door, I observed. And they’ve even relocated the dumpster.

“This space has been wonderful,” Christy said. “If it’s warm enough, we’ll sit out there, or kids will sit out there. A lot of what we’re seeing is kids who just need a break. They need to come and sit outside, take the mask off, drink some water, and then they get back to class. That area is wonderful for them. But we miss seeing people. We don’t get to see the (volume of) kids come by, which is part of the reason our foot traffic is less this year. I’ll be excited to get back into the main part of campus."

How has the year gone? I asked.

“At the beginning,” Christy continued, “we were all very nervous about being here. The first couple of kids that came in, we had protection on, head to toe. We learned quickly that we didn’t necessarily need to do that for every child who came in.”

With distancing and masks, have you seen fewer illnesses that you typically deal with?

“We’ve certainly seen very little flu and strep this year,” Jana said. “I think all the mitigation efforts have helped decrease those things.”

Have you found that there’s more anxiety than normal in this COVID world?

“Yes,” she said. “I think a lot of people are nervous. Once they’re vaccinated, they’re still a little apprehensive about going out to dinner and being around people. Not being able to go and do things has impacted people, certainly our kids. Things are opening back up. I think we’ll see less apprehension.”

So things have quieted down, COVID-wise?

“It’s certainly gotten calmer this spring,” she said. “We’ve been able to handle some other normal school nursing situations which have arisen, which has been nice. It’s not all been COVID.”

Few school people have dealt with the new normal more than nurses. How have you managed?

“You know,” Jana replied, “it’s been all right. Everyone in the community has done their part. We’ve had challenges with COVID and making sure people reported. You get calls all the time. The follow-up phone calls have been 24/7. There's been evening time and weekend time. But we have a great team that consults all the time. Kathryn (Heidt, the Lower School nurse) and I talk about all the cases that we’ve had to.”

Is there such thing as a typical day?
  
“It varies each day,” she said. “This year, we come in and follow up on anyone who’s absent and why they’re absent. If they’ve been tested, we make sure all those documents are in place. Then, we take care of whatever walks in the door: abrasions, headaches, sore throats, the normal stuff.”

When this is over, what will we have learned? 

“That’s a tough question,” Jana said. “I hope that taking normal precautions like handwashing and staying home when they’re sick will stick with people."

 Has this year been energizing or draining or both or somewhere in between?
      
“It’s brought a different perspective to what we do,” Jana said. “Did I think this (a pandemic) was going to happen when I went into school nursing?  No, but I love my job. It’s been challenging at times, but I don’t regret that I’m here.”

Do you look forward to the weekend?
   
“Yes,” she said with a laugh, “but I love seeing the kids here every day and being a part of what Collegiate offers.”

Anything else? I asked.

“Yes,” Christy responded. “Getting our kids back to school has helped their state of mind. Even though they’re masked and spaced, having some type of social interaction has been huge. Being here from day one has been amazing.”
~Weldon Bradshaw
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