A Day in the Life of a Havre Public School's Nurse

The life of a school nurse is typically busy, but imagine being the only nurse having to work at multiple schools in a single day. From sprained fingers and bruises to stomach issues and head collisions, Jeri Erickson, LPN, treats a variety of issues.

Erickson, who started working at Havre Public Schools in December, makes her rounds at every school in the system, which each have a nursing station.

Erickson said she stations at Highland Park Early Primary on Mondays, Lincoln-McKinley Primary Tuesdays, Sunnyside Intermediate Wednesdays, Havre Middle School Thursdays and Havre High School Fridays. However, she is on call to go to any of the schools throughout the day.

"(For example,) I'll be up at Highland Park and I'll get a call to Sunnyside ... ," Erickson said. "Sometimes I'm back-and-forth all day long."

Erickson said one of the main things she does on a given day is make sure students are up-to-date with their immunizations. One database that she utilizes is called, "ImMTrax," on which official immunization records of the students are documented.

"All Montana health care providers are part of ImMTrax, which is very nice because I can pull up a student to look at everything," she said.

Another database that Erickson utilizes is called "Infinite Campus." Through Infinite Campus, Erickson does a variety of tasks, such as writing plans of care for students who have diabetes, asthma and/or allergies.

"Every kid is different - every kid has a different plan of care," she said.

This mean that if, for example, an asthmatic student is having an asthma attack, with a continuous cough or wheezing,Infinite Campus will instruct the staff at the school how to treat the student even if Erickson isn't there.

Erickson said that when a situation arises that is out of her scope of practice she contacts parents or guardians to pick up their children from school.

"I've had to send kids to the dentist, kids to the (emergency room)," she added.

Erickson said that she conducts a variety of screenings for the students, such as vision screenings and dental screenings.

"Sometimes I have to take equipment with me to the school, like an audiometer to check their hearing."

Erickson receives referral forms from school officials whenever an issue arises.

"I've helped a few kids get glasses this year," she said. "One kid couldn't see the board at all and now he has glasses."

Erickson added that she enjoys helping the students.

"It's just fun working with the kids, and referring them, and actually helping them - knowing that (I'm) helping the kids," she said.

Andy Carlson, superintendent of Havre Public Schools, said he appreciates Erickson's work.

"It's another layer of protection for our students," he said. "We're happy to have her. She's doing a good job for us."