Job of school nurse has changed as much as schools have
Boise has changed a lot since Sheila Lincoln became a nurse 11 years ago, and Lincoln’s job has changed accordingly. The proportion of low-income children in Boise has risen from 28 percent to 43 percent since the early 1990s, according to the Boise School District’s Web site. Lincoln said she sees a lot more children than she used to who don’t have insurance and don’t regularly visit a doctor. “We are the first health care professional, often, that most of the children see,” said Lincoln, who was chosen as this year’s Nurse of the Year by the state’s association of school nurses.Lincoln came to nursing relatively late in life; when she graduated with her nursing degree in 1992 from Boise State University, she said, she was older than the head of the department.Being a school nurse had been her lifelong dream. Lincoln loves her work, where her time is divided between Shadow Hills Elementary School and Cole Elementary. She’s also very active in the School Nurse Organization of Idaho. Lincoln has given a lot of thought to how the school nurse’s job has changed. “We’re seeing more of what we call English Language Learners,” she said, referring to children who speak a foreign language at home. “We have a lot more refugees coming, young people, some of whom were born and grown up in refugee camps. They come with huge medical problems of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.”Also, I think since the twin towers, we see more parents full of fear; children are not walking to school.” Parents tell Lincoln they don’t let their children ride the bus for fear of bullying. There are kids in the district who are HIV-positive. As medical technology changes, children with more fragile medical conditions are coming to school, a development Lincoln finds positive. “I want inclusion; I want them to spend part of their day in a regular classroom,” she said.Other things have stayed stable during Lincoln’s tenure, such as the number of abuse cases she sees. Lincoln’s award enables her to attend the national school nurses’ conference in Albuquerque, N.M., in June. More importantly, for her, “it is a vote of confidence by my peers” for her outside work, her teaching and her contributions to various association committees, such as one that looks for ways to encourage more kids to walk to school. Claudia Terrell, the past president of the state nurse’s association, nominated Lincoln for the award. “She’s willing to get on board with new things and help,” she said.Terrell and Lincoln both noted that school nurses do a lot more than treat playground scrapes and other accidents that happen at school. They also set up health maintenance plans for children with chronic conditions, and they help steer parents toward health care, either by finding a doctor willing to treat a condition for free; by contacting one of the clinics for the uninsured in the Treasure Valley; or by helping the parents do the paperwork necessary to qualify for low-income health insurance programs.”I have actually driven kids to the doctor,” Lincoln said, noting that a parent who couldn’t drive came along. The Boise School District has 15 elementary school nurses, some of whom divide their time between schools, and 13 secondary school nurses, said Terrell. Some Idaho districts don’t have the money to hire even one school nurse, she said. “The health coverage is good in Boise,” said Terrell. “It would be nice to see all schools in Idaho have school nurses.”Anne Wallace Allen: 377-6433
