Lee Ann Harter Interview

1. Name and Title as you would like it presented:

Lee Ann Harter RN ADN BSN MSN               

2. School Name where you work:

Peoria High School  9-12 grade and  Peoria Flex Academy 10-12 grades . 1750 students 

3. How long have you been a school nurse?

12 years    K-12

4. Nurses have a lot of options when deciding where to work. How did you choose to work for a local school and what has kept you in school nursing so many years?

I  Love Kids!  Primary health promotion is a successful foundation to practice healthy behaviors. So school nursing allows a nurse to promote healthy practices early on.

5. What motivates you to make a difference for your students and community?

Access to education is  gaining the gift knowledge that allows us to become closer to our dreams

6. What is one thing you’d like the community to know about school nurses?   

School nursing  makes a difference, it has a long history, and the reason is best stated in a quote by Joycelyn Elders. “You can't educate a child who isn't healthy, and you can't keep a child healthy who isn't educated.” .

 Karen Reuter Interview

1. Name and Title as you would like it presented:

Karen Reuter, MSN, RN

Co-lead Nurse

2. School Name where you work:

Shadow Mountain High School

Paradise Valley Unified School District

3. How long have you been a school nurse?

48 years  this happens when your profession is your passion

4. Nurses have a lot of options when deciding where to work. How did you choose to work for a local school and what has kept you in school nursing so many years?

Worked in 2 school districts within my community, Glendale Elementary SD, PVUSD

How came to School Nursing: more compatible with family, once understood specialty, became a passion. Involved in other programs within the school, developed diversity program based on model. Trained students to facilitate positive diversity. Wrote grant to take kids to Prescott for leadership immersion in this area.

Team with social emotional interventionists to train teachers how to be supportive of kids especially with anxiety.

Being a school nurse became a passion, lead to getting a Master’s in public health.  Helped start AZ school consortium,  help develop courses for state  when AZ had a state school nurse certification.

5. What motivates you to make a difference for your students and community?

If we don’t educate children we pay for it later in the way of welfare services or within the prison system. Children deserve our best from our education system. Nurses can help by getting involved, look at grades and health, talk with counselors to get on top of issues. If we don’t do this we fail these children, and our community pays for it in the long run.

6. What is one thing you’d like the community to know about school nurses?

School nurses are advocates of their children, not only in health but as it relates to their future, education and for those in need we do our very best to point them to services that will help them with their health or social services concerns.  We are the hub to their child’s health in the community. 

Shannon David Interview

1. Name and Title as you would like it presented: 

Shannon M. David, BSN, RN, NCSN 

2. School Name where you work: 

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic School

3. How long have you been a school nurse?

15 years

4. Nurses have a lot of options when deciding where to work. How did you choose to work for a local school and what has kept you in school nursing so many years? 

Though the days can be long and, at times, stressful, there is not a single day that I have regretted my decision to transition to school nursing (I was an ER nurse for 15 years!). The true blessing of being a school nurse is the opportunity to build lasting relationships with the students and families I serve. So many of “my kids” begin attending the school in preschool and will continue through the completion of 8th grade. I get to know them, their parents, their siblings and, in many instances, grandparents and extended family. Also, I am blessed to work in an environment where my expertise and knowledge are valued by my Principal, the teachers and the staff.. 

5. What motivates you to make a difference for your students and community?

I truly believe that there are very few reasons a child cannot attend school. When children with unique health challenges, who previously may have been excluded from traditional classrooms, are welcomed into the school environment, overcome challenges and thrive among their peers, I am inspired to continue to work with administrators and educators to create systems where all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential in an environment where they are loved!

6. What is one thing you’d like the community to know about school nurses? 

Among the metrics used to monitor the response to the COVID outbreak has been the number of ICU beds available. What has not been communicated as effectively, however, is that an “ICU bed” is only an ICU bed when an ICU nurse stands at its side. Similarly, in the school setting, a “nurse’s office” is only truly a “nurse’s office” when a fully trained, licensed nurse is in the position of school nurse. Too often the role of “school nurse'' is filled by a volunteer, ancillary staff member, or some other school employee. I would like the community to know that school nursing is a separate and distinct specialty within the broader practice of nursing. School nurses must have a breadth and depth of knowledge and clinical expertise that encompass many other specialities. School nurses are experts in communicable disease, management of chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes, acute care for injuries and illness, health education of students and anticipatory guidance for parents. I would encourage parents to find out more about the provision of health services at their school.

Lois Leon Interview

1. Name and Title as you would like it presented:

Lois Leon, R.N., B.S.N

2. School name where you work:

 Irene Lopez School

3.  How long have you been a school nurse?

I have been the school nurse at Irene Lopez School for 26 years.

4.  Nurses have a lot of options when deciding where to work. How did you choose to work for a local school and what has kept you in school nursing so many years?

I chose to work at a local school as my children were attending this school. I love providing nursing services to the students in my community. I am now servicing the children of previous students. I feel very connected to the families.

5.  What motivates you to make a difference for your students and community?

As a member of the community, I feel an obligation and passion to keep our students and families healthy. Trust has been built with community members. With this trust, families are more likely to follow through with recommendations to seek out health resources, such as the Phoenix Breathmobile which provides diagnosis and treatment for our asthmatic students.

6. What is one thing you’d like the community to know about school nurses?

School nurses are essential to keep students and families physically and emotionally healthy. Health education and promotion as well as chronic illness monitoring/treatment are vital to keep our students physically healthy and able to succeed academically. School nurses are also involved in monitoring the social emotional health of students/staff/community and linking them to resources on campus and outside of campus.

Kristi Torbenson Interview 

1.Name and Title as you would like it presented:

Kristi Torbenson, RN/BSN

2.School name where you work:

I split my time between Las Sendas and Red Mountain Ranch Elementary Schools in Mesa.

3.How long have you been a school nurse?

I have been a school nurse for the past 15 years, starting when my youngest went to kindergarten. He’s a college student now! 

4.Nurses have a lot of options when deciding where to work. How did you choose to work for a local school and what has kept you in school nursing so many years?

Having 3 children, and a husband with a very hectic schedule, it was hard to find a nursing job that fit our family’s lifestyle. A friend of mine told me about an opening at our local elementary school, and it seemed like the perfect fit. I have been able to continue my nursing career, while being involved in all my kids’ activities. Now that my kids are grown, I still cannot imagine leaving school nursing because I adore the students and staff that I work with. 

5.What motivates you to make a difference for your students and community?

I have always been passionate about making a difference in people’s lives, which is one of the reasons I chose nursing as a career. The wonderful relationships I have created with students and staff keep me motivated to continue serving our school community. 

6.What is one thing you’d like the community to know about school nurses?

There is so much more to school nursing than just putting Band-Aids on children. The focus of a school nurse is making sure that every student has what they need to learn and learn well, which often includes managing health conditions such as asthma or diabetes. School nurses care for acute and chronically ill students and develop care plans that may include medicine or procedures. We administer screenings for vision and hearing. School nurses must be ready to attend to first aid or emergency care at a moment’s notice for students and staff. We coordinate, verify, and document all state and district mandated student screenings and immunizations. Education is also an important part of our job. We train staff on emergency medication delivery, as well as educate students on several health principles. School nurses are responsible for helping our entire school population stay healthy, and we take immense pride in our job!

About the PREPaRE Model

PREPaRE is a crisis prevention and intervention model that prepares educators and school-based mental health professionals to feel confident in their abilities when they fill specific roles and responsibilities during a crisis event.

PREPaRE focuses on the following activities: 

• Prevent and prepare for crises
• Reaffirm physical health & welfare, and perceptions of safety & security
• Evaluate psychological trauma risk
• Provide interventions
• and
• Respond to mental health needs
• Examine the effectiveness of crisis preparedness

This model is informed by documents published by the U.S. Department of Education and Homeland Security. You can find these documents linked in the Additional Resources section below.

Workshop 1 is a one-day training for all staff. This workshop informs on how to build a school environment that focuses on comprehensive school safety efforts that encompass both physical and psychological safety. Participants will learn a brief overview of a school crisis team's roles and responsibilities, emphasizing crisis prevention and preparedness. 

Workshop 2 is a two-day training for crisis response staff. This workshop provides specialized information on the roles and responsibilities of school-based mental health professionals, specifically during crisis intervention and recovery. Participants in this workshop will develop skills to provide the necessary immediate mental health crisis interventions to the students, staff, and school community members who have been simultaneously exposed to an acute traumatic stressor.

Emergency Operations Planning/Continuity of Operations Planning

Behavioral Threat AssessmentCrisis Prevention and Intervention

Welcome to the School Preparedness webpage!

What is Preparedness?

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines preparedness as “a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and taking corrective action in an effort to ensure effective coordination during incident response.” 

The Preparedness Cycle was created to illustrate the following steps: 

1. Plan

2. Organize/Equip

3. Train

4. Exercise

5. Evaluate/Improve

Each stage in the Preparedness Cycle relates to one or more of the five mission areas in the National Preparedness Goal, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2015). 

The National Preparedness Goal

The five mission areas of the National Preparedness Goal in the context of schools include:

1. Prevention - To prevent, avoid, or stop a crisis event from happening in a school environment.
2. Protection - To protect all individuals in a school environment against the greatest threats and hazards to them in their specific school's environment.
3. Mitigation - To reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of future potential crisis events in a school environment.
4. Response - To respond to any crisis event on a school campus quickly to save lives, protect the school's property and environment, and meet basic human needs in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.
5. Recovery - To recover through a focus on the timely restoration, strengthening and revitalization of infrastructure, housing and a sustainable economy, as well as the health, social, cultural, historic and environmental fabric of communities affected by a catastrophic incident.

How does ADE support the five mission areas of the National Preparedness Goal?

The Arizona Department of Education supports education agencies across the state in preparing for emergencies of all types. Some activities in school preparedness that ADE supports include:

• Emergency Operations Planning (EOP) tools and guidance

• Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) tools and training

• Crisis prevention and intervention training

• School-based threat assessment training

• Training of the trainers

• Mental health guidance

• Suicide prevention training

Arizona School Nurse Access Program (ASAP) has concluded. This page is maintained for historical and reference purposes only. Information and resources associated with the Arizona School Nurse Access Program remain available for review by interested stakeholders.

The Arizona Department of Education with funding support from the Arizona Department of Health Services implemented the Arizona School Nurse Access Program (ASAP), an aptly named program to expediently increase the number of school nurses in Arizona. The ASAP idea started in Spring of 2021, and funded school nurses in Arizona for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 school year. The ASAP supported the professional growth and development of both new-to-practice school nurses as well as the incumbent workforce through a partnership with the Arizona Foundation for the Future of Nursing (AZFFN) and the Arizona State University (ASU). The goal of the ASAP was to foster a highly educated workforce that functions to the full extent of their license and education. 

A Glimpse Into The ASAP: 49 Nurses Hired Serving Rural Schools In 13 Different Counties

 Key Partners

 

Contact us!

Have a question about the ASAP? Email Us! The ADE provides a webpage dedicated to School Nursing and Health Services, visit the homepage here.