Guarding student health

Nancy Lipinski has been the Annandale School District’s nurse for 21 years.

Lipinski supervises all three Annandale schools. She is assisted by Jessica Chapman at Annandale Elementary and Patti Holm at Annandale Middle School. Holm has been the health assistant at the AMS for 16 years and Chapman for five years at AES.

"I feel highly supported and the district is very fortunate to have very competent employees in these positions." Lipinski said. "They are great with the students and parents, and excellent communicators in regard to keeping me informed when I am not in those particular schools"

Annandale High School does not have a health office assistant, so Nancy works in collaboration with and relies on Wendy Storkamp and the secretarial staff to keep her informed.

Lipinski does not have a favorite school and enjoys the diversity of each age group. She schedules time in each building, and is free to travel between buildings if health concerns or emergency situations arise.

Since the elementary is the largest school with the most students, she spends more time there. You will almost always find Lipinski at Annandale Elementary over the lunch hour. The nurse’s office is a very busy place during this time, dispensing medications or dealing with playground injuries.

"We always try to have myself and Jessica in the office during this busy time of day," Lipinski said. "It’s a great combination, as we know the regular students so well and we also complement each other in our philosophy as well as our work styles."

Definition

The National Association of School Nurses defines school nursing as "a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well-being, academic success and lifelong achievement of students. To that end, school nurses facilitate positive student responses to normal development, promote health and safety, intervene with actual and potential health problems and provide case management services."

Record keeping

Lipinski keeps health records of all the Annandale students. The records are initially generated at each child’s pre-school screening. Any contact with Health Services is then recorded and maintained in the record.

All of the records of current students are kept electronically. Lipinski and her staff converted the file system to electronic data approximately four years ago and they facilitated the conversion without using an outside firm. This provided a lower cost to the district for the transition and allowed more control in the transfer of information.

All parent notes, medical reports, immunizations and authorizations from physicians are scanned and logged into the computer. In addition, the system can maintain history of screenings and specific nurses notes.

"We are cutting edge. The system allows us to have easier access to files and is significantly more efficient." Lipinski said.

Range of duties

Today’s school nurses do much more than put on a bandage or provide a cot for a student not feeling well.

Lipinski enjoys the variety that school nursing offers, and said there are never two days that are the same.

"I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work with both students and families," Lipinski said. "I also feel privileged to have long-standing relationships with community members."

Lipinski is available to support students entering school with health or mental health problems. A school nurse must monitor and manage these issues when children are at school. She is also appreciative of the administrative, counseling and social work staff that supports her.

"The district is highly supportive in seeing Health Services as a valued part of the school system," Lipinski said. "This enhances my ability to provide necessary interventions to all students. We look at the whole health of our students: physical, mental and emotional. If any of these areas are impacted adversely, it will impact the child’s education."

Medications

Lipinski works with the student’s physician to make sure medications are given and other physician directives are followed.

If a child is required to take medication during the school day, that medication is kept in the nurse’s office with detailed instructions from the prescribing physician and permission from the parents.

At each school in the district, all prescription and over-the-counter medications for students must be coordinated through Health Services. This is to ensure the safety of students.

Screenings

As the school nurse, Lipinski is also responsible for overseeing screenings. Pre-schoolers are evaluated for development, speech, hearing and vision.

At the preschool level, Lipinski conducts all exit interviews, summarizing the results for parents.

Screenings become an important part of each student’s health records.

Special education

Lipinski is also a part of the special education team in each building. Those teams meet weekly. She is a part of the assessment process, and if the need arises she will provide health services to students that qualify for special education.

One-on-one counseling

Lipinski’s favorite part of school nursing is the opportunity to provide one-on-one services to students.

For students that face challenges at home, with friends or in school, she enjoys listening to students and helping them find options to problem solve, creating resiliency for them and building positive life skills.

In today’s schools the school nurse often will provide interventions for communicable diseases, obesity, drug abuse, pregnancy, nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases.

"Nancy’s personal and professional skill-sets are so strong that students are naturally drawn to her," said retired AHS counselor Jim Lipsiea, who worked with Lipinski for 21 years. "As a result, her role is much larger than that of a traditional school nurse."

Lipinski works with many AHS students on a one-on-one basis, often times for multiple years.

"Students want to talk to someone they feel they can trust, and Nancy exudes that sentiment," Lipsiea said. "She is absolutely sincere and genuine and students can sense it in her.

"Her ability to work so well with so many age groups is incredible. Her ability to improve a student’s self-esteem is exceptional."

Accomplished actress

Lipinski grew up in St. Michael, received her nursing degree from the College of Saint Benedict and earned her master’s degree at Hamline University.

In addition to her job with the Annandale schools, Lipinski also recently worked part-time six years in a chemical dependency and mental illness dual diagnosis treatment center.

Lipinski and her husband Woody have lived in the Annandale area for 36 years.

According to Lipsiea, Lipinski is also a very good actress, performing theater productions in St. Cloud and Minneapolis.