WATERBURY, Conn. (WFSB) – Just like in hospitals across the country, the nursing shortage is also impacting our schools.
In Waterbury, school nurses have been hopping between schools to cover the vacancies.
“It was just time, shift work takes a toll on your body,” said Allison Sirowich, school nurse at Waterbury Career Academy.
Allison made the switch from the hospital to school nursing in 2019.
But she’s only been at Waterbury Career Academy for about four months.
She’s made her rounds at the city’s other schools.
“I was all over the other schools. I was at Reagan Elementary School. I floated a lot, so I think I’ve been in just about every high school nurse’s office, every school nurse’s office in the city,” Allison said.
Right now, Waterbury has more than 15 school nurse openings.
It’s stretching the nurses on staff thin.
The health department wants to create something similar to the police department’s training center.
A kind of pipeline to create incentives and, ultimately, keep nurses here.
A big factor that is helping contribute to the shortage is higher paying nursing jobs.
Phyllis Levy is the School Nurse Union’s president.
She says without long-term appointments at schools, it can be a potentially dangerous situation for students with medical conditions.
“Or, if someone doesn’t have a health condition, but all of a sudden they’re presenting some symptoms and I know that student, and looking at the record, reviewing the record, that’s not usual for this child,” said Levy, school nurse at Rotella Magnet School.
No one knows this better than Hope Fenn.
She’s been Gilmartin Elementary’s school nurse for 18 years.
She says there’s a misconception school nurses don’t have it as hard as say, hospital nurses.
But for students, they’re the only medical personnel around.
“We’re the only people in the school, like, in the hospital you have your doctors, you have other therapists, other nurses you can bounce things off on. Here it’s you, so you have to have really good assessment skills,” Fenn said.
If you’re interested in applying to be a school nurse in the Brass City, click here.
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