Prep and Academy Nurse Kristen Morales and Nurse Supervisor Cynthia Bello
rings. Bello dispenses medicine to children with chronic conditions during lunch, while Cash cooks for around 1,000 students, faculty and staff. Today’s Prep menu features strip steak with peppers and onions, butternut squash and chicken noodle soups, several prepared salads, an ample salad bar, pepperoni pizza and pasta Alfredo. “Ninety-nine percent of our food is freshly made, including pizza dough, dressings, soups and even seasonings,” says Cash proudly, adding that he “tries to mix it up” and to serve vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options every day. A veteran chef, he joined Gulliver 20 years ago after a career as a chef in Washington, D.C. Besides lunch, Cash’s kitchen also serves breakfast and caters many Gulliver evening events. Although Cash’s workdays are long, he says cooking is a labor of love for him, a way to connect with students through their stomachs. As they start filing into the cafeteria and forming lines behind the serving stations, he strolls around watchfully, noting what’s popular and what isn’t devoured right away. “This is the best part of my day,” he says. “I love seeing the kids run for the food when the bell rings. What’s the use of getting up at 4:00 a.m. every day if they don’t like my food?” Over in the Academy’s cafeteria, Bello squeezes in a 15-minute lunch break while her two coworkers cover the office. It’s been a busy morning. Around 9:00 a.m., a fourth-grader tripped over a backpack on his way to the band room and sustained a deep cut on his forehead. “Thankfully he didn’t need stitches, so we cleaned and bandaged him and sent him back to class,” says Bello with the sympathetic, matter-of-fact, no-nonsense voice of a seasoned medical professional. Besides the usual scrapes and bruises, a steady stream of elementary school students – sometimes 10 at once – has already passed through the nurses’ office today, complaining of
stomachaches and sore throats. Bello sent several home with fever and white spots on their tonsils. “We also saw a few patients whose ailments turned out to be stress-related, which is very common,” Bello says. That included two first grade girls whose earlymorning nausea dissipated after they put aside their differences and vowed to be best friends again, and an eighth grader who probably feigned a headache because he wanted to skip a history test. “A key part of our job is getting to the bottom of why a student comes in by listening and asking the right questions.” Bello explains. “We offer psychological comfort as much as medical assistance.” As the school day draws to a close and the office quiets down, Bello and her colleagues update
Elizabeth Chaviano (center), After School and Summer Programs Supervisor
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