It’s happened to most of us before. We go down to the office with one medical problem or another, be it big or small, and the nurse isn’t around to help us out. This has left many students asking one question; why? As some of you might know, we share our nurse with Vallivue Middle School and Sage Valley (confirmed for us, at least). According to the office, the nurse is in from 8 a.m. till 1:oo p.m. Monday through Friday excluding Wednesday.

Now, we have to understand, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sharing our nurse! It helps provide a familiarity through the years and makes students more comfortable through the transition from middle school to high school. It also helps the school keep track of students with more serious medical conditions so that such things will not be forgotten or lost in the shuffle of paperwork between schools. This is an advantage for us as far as I see it, but there are just a few things we could be doing to make it even better. Not having someone in the office, for example, could be corrected.

Other schools who share their nurse between buildings have often made use of a student nurse-aid program. Putting a teachers’ aide student in the nurse’s office when no one else is there could help ease some of the confusion. When we are told to simply go in and find what we need, that opens the door for problems. I feel it would not be too ambitious to keep a student nurse in the office; someone who would know their way around the room and be able to help students find what they need. Having someone familiar with the office layout could be very advantageous for us.