Garfield Nurse Provides Care To Students At Risk
While her fellow school nurses struggle with two-ton case loads, Garfield Elementary’s Joanne Taylor is responsible for a handful of kids.
But her wards are among the most medically fragile kids in the Spokane School District, saddled with cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and diabetes.
In need of special care during the school day, they are bused to Garfield’s magnet program and Taylor’s watch.
Taylor is also nurse to the 520-student North Side elementary, but she monitors students such as Nick Cantlon like a protective mother. The number of students in the program varies from two to 10.
There are others in the school district with more severe maladies; a student once came to school on a gurney. Taylor’s students can function in a mainstream classroom, but need special monitoring and could require emergency treatments.
Cantlon, 10, has severe diabetes. On Monday, his blood sugar fell to 34, near comatose stage. A couple of glucose wafers and the lanky, athletic boy sauntered off to lunch.
“I’m kind of part mothering role, and teaching role and nursing role,” said Taylor.
Her position is unique but required. Public schools can’t legally turn away students with medical problems, and can’t very well ignore fragile youth.
Strict confidentiality laws prevent Taylor from talking about specific students without parental permission.
She teaches the students about their illnesses and treatments. Under her tutelage, Cantlon learned to give himself insulin injections in his arm. “It makes me feel as a parent that my son’s safer,” said Mike Cantlon, Nick’s father. “I feel like I can work more effectively because of that.”
Self-sufficiency is more difficult with some illnesses. Severe asthmatics must take medicine through a special blower called a nebulizer, which Taylor operates.
But when they understand their illness, they often blossom, Taylor said.
“Kids have real self-esteem problems when they have chronic illness,” said Taylor.
“I can’t eat whenever I want,” said Nick. When Taylor asked him if there was a cure for diabetes, he shook his head.
Taylor usually tells an ill student’s class about their classmate’s problems, confronting the eventual gossip and speculation. She does that only after consulting the child’s parents and children, she says.
“Sometimes they prefer to keep it as quiet as possible,” said Taylor.
When the students are ready, they return to their neighborhood school, which is likely serviced by a nurse split between five schools.
Garfield principal Steve Ward said Taylor’s constant presence is a tremendous asset. “The confidence she gives us is fantastic,” he said. “We always know she’ll be here to consult.”
Other parents wonder at the expense. Many students only see a nurse in crisis.
“Most schools hire one-on-one for handicapped kids, but what happens to regular kids?” asked Teresa Wilhelm, parent of a Regal Elementary fifth-grader.
But the district has clear legal responsibility and a handful of fragile children, leaving administrators no choice. “We must provide access to them,” said Carole Murphy, Spokane’s nursing coordinator.
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