Our New Normal, Volume XV

That answer, at first glance, is, well, there is no such thing.

Sure, we’re in the midst of a pandemic, albeit on the down side (hopefully). Sure, we’re still masking and distancing and following directional arrows and being ever so mindful of cleanliness.

On this day, though, Kathryn Heidt, a ’94 Collegiate graduate and for six years the LS nurse, is working at her computer with nary a child in sight. 

It’s a good sign that there aren’t any sick people here. Right?  I observed.

As if on cue, two children appear just outside her door. Nothing major, thankfully. Just a skinned knee from the playground. Kathryn dutifully treated the injury, offered a few gentle and encouraging words, and sent the now-smiling youngster and her friend on their way. 

After admiring the bright, cheery artwork adorning the walls, I inquired about her new normal.

“We’ve trained the kids to stop before they come into the office,” Kathryn began.  “We have a big stop sign on the floor before they walk in. That’s because we have two different clinic rooms: a well room (down the hall) and a sick room (in the actual nurse’s office). If someone has a minor injury, they stop right there and I can take care of it, get them some ice or a band-aid or whatever they need. If they need more help, they go down to the other room.”

“It’s mostly screening: the temperature checks in the morning,” she said. “Teachers have become well versed in noticing who’s sneezing and coughing and has a runny nose.  Those kids are sent to me and sent home, whereas last year they would not have been sent home for a runny nose or sore throat. It’s different in that respect.”

“We’re very cautious,” she said. 

“Their ability to communicate and tell you what’s wrong,” Kathryn said. “Some of them can’t really verbalize what’s happened or how they feel. They’re a little more rough-and-tumble (than older kids) and tend to fall and hurt themselves a little bit more.”

“Making sure parents understand why their children are being sent home, especially around allergy season, when they’re sent home with congestion,” she replied. “Explaining to them what we need as a school during this different period of time can be challenging and demanding.”

“Dealing with COVID cases especially over the winter period when you would have multiple cases and multiple students being exposed,” she said. “Educating families about what needs to happen from the school standpoint but also talking to the Department of Health and doing all the reporting. We have meetings about whether what we’re doing is effective. There were days when we would get calls late in the evening or on the weekend. There was no time without it.”

“We know it’s part of the job and at some point it (COVID) will leave,” she said. “It’s gotten better. It’s dramatically changed as the weather has warmed up.”

As a nurse on the front line, you’re vulnerable. Do you worry about yourself, or is this what you signed up for?

“I’m a firm believer that if you do what you’re supposed to do, if you wash your hands and wear your mask, that will prevent the spread,” she said. “I do think, too, as medical providers we’re not as concerned as others would be because we’re used to working in a profession where we’re constantly around sick people.”

Kathryn has worked with pediatric patients for most of her career, first at the VCU Medical Center, then at Children’s Hospital, and later in the Henrico County School System including the Head Start program.

Why pediatrics? I wondered.
  
“I love the kids,” she said without hesitation. “They’re funny, the things they say, just being around them, warming their heart when they don’t feel well.”

“Yes,” she replied. “That’s the one thing about this profession, same thing with doctors, you never know what’s going to head your way from one minute to the next.”

As I’m wrapping up with a questions about the best part of her job, her phone rings. She glances at it, says “Hold on,” answers, and listens attentively.

“I’m going to have one down here in just a minute,” she said just as three kids appear at her door.
   
Never stops, does it? I commented.

“I love the kids,” she replied, actually reiterated, in response to the question I’d asked a moment earlier.  “I love the community. I love what I’m doing.”
  ~Weldon Bradshaw