Caring for the kids
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Her love of children made it an easy decision. When she saw the position was open, Kara Gunnels left a traditional nursing job to become a school nurse.
"It's a completely different experience," she said. "You get to spend time one-on-one with your patients. You're not rushed."
But school nurses do have many responsibilities and at times deal with very serious conditions. There are students who attend Rogers schools who are diabetic, suffer from seizures, asthma or spina bifida. Sometimes nurses have to help with tube feedings. Other times, students come in who just want to talk.
"It's more than Band-Aids and boo-boos," she said.
School nurses are also responsible for routine screenings for hearing, vision and scoliosis.
The week she started as a school nurse at Oakdale in 2002, a student came into her office after being stung by a bee. It turned out the girl was allergic to bee stings and Gunnels had to help her with an epi-pen. She was also called on to help with possible broken bones at football practice.
The elementary school is quieter, and because Garfield is small - only 136 students - Gunnels is getting to know many of them. It's a close-knit group and she enjoys the family atmosphere.
She spends three days a week there and she monitors one student for diabetes. She spends her other two days at Bonnie Grimes Elementary and a paraprofessional takes her place at Garfield. There's either a nurse or a paraprofessional at every school in the district every day, Gunnels said.
A native of Springdale, Gunnels moved to northwest Arkansas when her husband's job brought them to the area. She attended Har-Ber School of Nursing, which has since closed.
Last year, she and her husband built a house on the lake in the Garfield area. They spend their free time on their dock or their boat in the summer, but in the fall they move inside to watch football.
Sometimes driving into town from their spot on the lake is difficult. The roads in the area are known for hidden patches of black ice. Gunnels went off the road on her way to school last winter, but every car on the road that morning stopped to help her. She accepted a ride home with a stranger who had a child at the school.
"It really is like a family," she said.
She knows the local volunteer fire department and EMTs are only a phone call away if a student needs more help than she can provide.
"I'm honored when I think about being entrusted with the care of these kids," she said.
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