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School Nurses Chapter Leader Cathy Connolly (left) at the dinner with nurses Janet Carter (center) of PS 107 and Sherry Branch of PS 37, who attended Nurses Lobby Day in Albany the day before.
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Members of the School Nurses Chapter gather for the celebration.
“It was my first lobby day and it was really exciting,” said Janet Carter, a school nurse at PS 107 in Flushing, Queens. “Lobbying is speaking from the heart and talking about what you’re passionate about.” One of the lobbying priorities this year was ensuring that every school statewide has a school nurse and determining if more than one is needed. Many upstate school districts have nurses covering several schools. “Even though New York City has a nurse in every public school, we’re in Albany for everyone,” Carter said. “I’m looking forward to going to Lobby Day again next year.”
She and other nurses discussed how their jobs have become more challenging as the number of students with special medical needs has grown. “I have students with diabetes, another who has to be catheterized, and another who is recovering from heart surgery,” Carter said. “I also have 40 students who have an Epi-Pen for food and nut allergies.”
Sherry Branch, a nurse at PS 37 in Springfield Gardens, Queens, inspired fellow nurses with her story of how she and her colleagues sought grants and donations that enabled her school to open a kitchen and offer cooking classes for students in grades 2–5 [See “Recipe for Success”]. “We had a chef come into the school and cook different foods from around the world,” Branch said. “Then the students learn to prepare it, too.”
Odelyn Gordon, the nurse at IS 59 in Springfield Gardens, said she looks forward to the chapter’s appreciation dinner each year. “We get together and people voice their opinions and we hear the latest news from the union,” she said.
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