Michelle Donner and Freesia Nardo are health heroes. The two high school nurses manage the health room, take care of students and help ensure everyone is safe during the school day.

    Though sometimes the job gets difficult. COVID-19 has put extra strain on a job that already carries emotional weight.

    “The main struggles we come across are mainly us being so busy and seeing a lot the kids that are sick or injured, it’s hard to see the kids that have special care plans,” said Donner. 

    They see approximately 70-80 kids each day, and this number increased ever since the pandemic started. COVID-19 made things harder on them with only them two and so many kids to have to take care of.

    “COVID has really made the job very difficult. Just the number of sick kids, and the concern with the transmission from one kid to another. We try to keep everyone in the building safe. We have to work on getting calls about questions of COVID as well as our normal duties,” said Donner.

    Nardo and Donner both became nurses to help people and working with kids is their most rewarding part of the job.

    “[My favorite part is] helping the kids feel better and teaching them about their health,” Donner said “I worked with many different populations and found out that kids are my favorite part of nursing,” said Nardo.