It was just another day in the office of nurse Cheryl Cantwell, who teaches students like Ramos how to practice such calm and skilled self-care. At first glance, the place looks familiar, almost retro: glass jars for bandages and cotton puffs; eye chart with its all-caps K-H-O-R-Z.
But yank open Cantwell's closet, and the 21st century of school nursing appears: A vinyl shoe caddy holds 20 boxes of prescription drugs, mostly Ventolin, a rescue inhaler for asthma, and a chart lists students with allergies to red dye, coconut, strawberries, peanuts, shellfish, and eggs. A cabinet holds medical records for each of the school's 725 students, including some with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cerebral palsy, Tourette's syndrome, autism, and seizure disorders.
The school nurse - once the person who doled out antiseptic for playground scrapes and Motrin for menstrual cramps - has morphed into a multi-tasking, holistic health-care provider who cares for students with chronic illnesses and meets stepped-up screening requirements (annual weight, height, body-mass index, and vision checks for all students, along with hearing and scoliosis screens for some). And in an era when many families are pinched for health insurance and time, the nurse often becomes the go-to medical resource, even for injuries or illnesses that happen at home.
"My role has expanded so much in the last few years," says Cantwell, who was a pediatric nurse for 10 years before joining the school system. "The first aid and the boo-boos are this much" - she holds her thumb and index finger a syringe-width apart - "of what a nurse does," she said.
