Leading Through Nursing

Leading the Way on HEALTH AND SAFETY

at Landmark

BY SUSAN TOMASES

LEADING THROUGH NURSING

IIt’s a blustery day in early May. I have arranged to meet virtually with Jessica Fauci, R.N., director of Health Services at Landmark, and Shari Gallant, R.N., Elementary•Middle School head nurse. Spring is a busy time of year at Landmark, and we’ve rescheduled the call several times due to the hectic and unpredictable nature of any given day in our Health Centers.

A Day in the Life

Jess explained, “When I arrived today, my inbox was flooded with new emails since I checked it at bedtime last night; my voice mailbox was full; the phone was ringing off the hook with calls from families looking for guidance; students were lining up outside the Health Center waiting for daily

medication to be administered; and all of the isolation spaces in the Health Center were occupied with students recently diagnosed with COVID.” Needless to say, the nature of school-based healthcare in the time of COVID has put increased demands on expectations, workflow, and accountability. Nurses Shari Gallant and Karen O’Neil review health center documents.

School Nurses are Leading the Way

Within the medical field, school nurses can be an overlooked group of dedicated healthcare professionals. That has quickly changed in our “new normal” of COVID and the need to rethink and re-engineer health and safety in schools. With a pandemic underway and schools caught in the crossfire of some of the most hotly contested debates about getting students and teachers back in the classroom, school nurses have forged new territory to reinvent health-and-safety policies and protocols locally and nationally.

Since the start of the COVID pandemic, Landmark has had a Health and Safety Policy Committee that meets weekly to evaluate needs on both campuses. As representatives of the larger nursing teams at the School, both Jess and Shari serve as key decision makers during these meetings. Andrea Meade, assistant dean of students at the High School, leads these discussions and has been a font of up-tothe-minute details on the status of the pandemic, partnering with the nurses to interpret new regulations and guidelines. (See “The COVID Queen” article in our Fall 2020/Winter 2021 issue at www.landmarkschool.org/lantern).

Layer in a nursing shortage, intermittent surges of COVID outbreaks, and professional burnout, and the formula for success is tested each and every day. And yet, at Landmark and so many other schools, nurses are leading effectively, empathetically, and courageously.

Despite it all, Jess and Shari have been able to grow their departments and attract highly skilled nurses to their Health Centers. Their staff members represent a range of skills and experiences, including hospice, intensive care, obstetrics and gynecology, public health, and health law, to name a few.

“You are the HEROES OF OUR STUDENT HEALTH, performing big and small miracles every day—while adapting to a changing school world.”

— Anne H. Sheetz, R.N. M.P.H. Former Director of School Health Services Massachusetts Department of Public Health

What’s Next?

When asked about lessons learned and caring for the Landmark community in the coming year, they both agree that they will continue to check in on a daily basis with each other, shift to a less reactive and more strategic approach, refocus attention on attending to the whole patient, and prioritize self-care.

Landmark’s High School and Elementary Full- and Part-Time Nursing Team Alexis Alli, B.S.N., R.N. Cassidy Armstrong, B.S.N., R.N Mary Belliveau, R.N. Julie Berman, B.S.N., R.N Paula Deffer, B.S.N., R.N Jessica Fauci, B.S.N., R.N Susan Ferguson, R.N. Sally Gagnon, B.S.N., R.N Shari Gallant, B.S.N., R.N Mark Graham, B.S.N., R.N Deb Hadley, B.S.N., R.N Lisa Kaplan-Distasio, R.N. Kelly Keane, R.N. Karen O’Neil, R.N.