Franciscan home health aides help students

STEUBENVILLE -- The 2,400 students in Steubenville city schools received extra help this year with their scrapes, bruises and wellness checkups from four health aides -- all of them senior nursing students at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Vanessa Palmer, registered nurse, MSN, who has worked for nearly 30 years and is the school district's certified school nurse, received approval from school district administration to hire the four health aides a few hours each week to help organize medical records and help with an ever-increasing workload.

Throughout the school year, the health aides rotated among Harding Middle School, Steubenville High School and Garfield East Elementary.

"They were wonderful; they were very proficient. I gave them leadership roles and could always count on them to complete the work I assigned them," said Palmer.

While health aides are limited in what they can do medically, there was plenty for them to do. At the start of the school year, they assisted with preschool and school-age health screenings for vision, hearing, growth and development. They poured over hundreds of immunization records and contacted parents to update school records, it was noted.

The aides assisted with students who came to the clinic for diabetes, allergies, the flu and other ailments and often called parents and interacted with teachers.

Another big project the health aides undertook was to teach and certify high school seniors in CPR.

"The seniors were great to work with. The football players had no problem doing chest compressions on the mannequin," said health aide Adriana Sta. Agueda, who later this summer begins work as nurse on a neurology unit at a hospital in Utah.

"Most nursing students are interested in hospital nursing -- the really sick patients," said health aide Anne Pivarunas, who soon is to begin her nursing career at a hospital in Buffalo. "But being a health aide showed me the importance of health prevention and good health promotion. It brought to life what community nursing is all about."

The health aides agreed they learned a lot from Palmer, who is an adjunct nursing professor at Franciscan University and was their mentor.

"Vanessa's the best," said Lauren Schaffer. "She has decades of experience and is really good at what she does. She really cares about the students. Because of her, I now realize how hard it is to be a school nurse."

Palmer received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Franciscan University in 1987, a master of science in nursing from Franciscan in 2001 and is working toward a doctorate in nursing from Walden University.

She doesn't know if health aides will become a permanent fixture in the school district but was grateful that school administration approved them this year.

"I gave the health aides a lot of responsibilities. They were in charge. They helped our students, parents, teachers, and they learned how to be health leaders. I'll miss them," Palmer said.