Letter to the editor: Help school nurses recover from the mental health impact of Covid

I would like to draw attention to the results of a survey that asked 121 questions to 8,000 school nurses during the Covid period. The surveyA collaborative effort between the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of School Nurses is titled “Mental Health of School Nurses in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

School nurse Adrienne Mercier administers a Covid vaccine to Auburn substitute teacher Wanda Sprague at the 2021 Teacher Immunization Clinic at Connors Elementary School in Lewiston. A March national survey of 8,000 school nurses found that 48 percent had reported at least one negative incident. Mental health status. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal, File

Forty-eight percent have felt bullied, threatened, or harassed; 30 percent have post-traumatic stress disorder; 24 percent felt depressed; 22 percent feel anxious; 39 percent experienced stigma or discrimination; Twenty-four percent had received work-related threats, and nearly half (48 percent) reported at least one bad mental health episode in the two weeks before the survey ended in March 2022. The data points are alarming and sad and show the urgency to support schools. Nurses.

As a society we have an obligation to support those who care for our children. We need something urgently and immediately, and this is easy. I want to thank every parent, staff or administrator who thanked us and recognized our efforts. Those who do not intend to do so should please give their child’s nurse a smile and a “thank you”.

To those who are unkind or go out of their way to intimidate, please don’t do it anymore. Maybe try following the motto proudly displayed in a fourth-grade hallway: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

School nurses depend on your kindness and grace and they themselves heal and care for your children, all 56 million.

Judy Doran, RN
Eliot

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