Summer internships, vacations and camps all came to an end on Aug. 26th, when WCHS welcomed students back to school. With the new school year comes new students and of course, new staff members. Micheal Short and Keyonda Blackman have stepped into the role of school nurses, helping handle students’ medical needs.
Just like any other student or staff member at WCHS, being a school nurse comes with a variety of daily tasks. However, instead of teaching students math or science, Micheal Short and Keyonda Blackman spend their days treating student illnesses, injuries and more. Additionally, they work with the administration and staff to create healthcare plans for students. These healthcare plans are designed to help nurses figure out the health needs of a student and help them figure out what to do in an emergency.
“Our primary focus is seeing students that come in here with acute illness,” Short said. “We either treat them to go back to class or send them home to recover. The first few weeks have been enlightening and busy, but overall, it has been a positive experience.”
Prior to being a school nurse, Short served in the U.S. Navy as a clinical nurse specialist. When he retired, after 20 years in the navy, he was looking for a way to continue to serve the community. Short fulfilled this desire by becoming a school nurse.
“I have been working as a school nurse since April of this year,” Short said. “I like influencing positive patient outcomes, and I looked at the job as a good way to influence health outcomes for students in MCPS.”
In addition to welcoming Short onto the staff, WCHS also welcomed Keyonda Blackman, who serves as a substitute technician (sub tech). Prior to being a school nurse, she worked as a bus driver for MCPS. She began working as a nurse in November of last year, though instead of working with high school students, she worked with elementary school students.
“I normally work with elementary school kids, so there are changes,” Blackman said. “Usually when we work with kids in high school with acute illnesses, they just want to go home, whereas kids in elementary school just want ice.”
Since arriving as a sub tech to WCHS, Blackman feels very welcomed to the school community. Unfortunately, we will not have her as a nurse for the entirety of the school year, when the other full time nurse, Jane Laibstain returns in November.
“They are very welcoming, we work as a team,” Blackman said. “Although we work as a team in the nurses office, we also work with admin and everyone else as a team. The communication is really good at WCHS.”
Similarly to high school students who make goals during the school year, such as new study methods or to stop procrastinating, Short also has his own goal to achieve during the school year. Instead of it being a goal that will just benefit himself, he made a goal that will help benefit the student population and staff at WCHS.
“My goal right now is to become organized and to thoroughly understand the student population and their health conditions, and have a healthcare plan, or emergency plan created for everybody who needs it,” Short said. “Also, I would like to train staff and students in emergency care. I plan on accomplishing this one step at a time and prioritizing the students with the greatest needs.”
