Anne Nelson

“The tincture of time will solve everything.”

Interviewing Nurse Anne was very interesting, and we had a great time talking with her. We learned about the many difficulties of being a nurse at a large school, including having to manage many of the students’ medications while at the same time having a lot of people coming in every few minutes. While saying that, she also emphasized that she loves her job. In the article that follows, we will be talking more about our experience interviewing Nurse Anne.

“Having them tell their story allows them to tell me exactly what happened, but from a child’s point of view, not a doctor’s. You have to understand whatever they have to say.”

When working at a place for a long time, you gain wisdom about that certain role. Nurse Anne has a lot of experience with being a caring and understanding nurse. She says that it is important to have students who come see her tell their story. Nurse Anne will sit the student down in her office and ask what they are experiencing. “Having them tell their story allows them to tell me exactly what happened, but from a child’s point of view, not a doctor’s. You have to understand whatever they have to say.” From all of her work at Parker, Nurse Anne knows that sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing, and to have the patient sit in her office until they feel better. We got to witness this firsthand. A student came in and said that someone stepped on his stomach. Nurse Anne let him tell his story, and then he sat for about 10 minutes. After that time, he felt better. “Usually, you have to figure out what’s going on underneath, whether they need attention, or they are worried about something. You have to find out what’s going on, and listen to what they have to say,” Nurse Anne said. Nurse Anne is very passionate for her job, and her favorite part is being able to see the kids that she’s treated since Junior Kindergarten grow up and become Upper School Seniors. Nurse Anne had other jobs before Parker, and one of them made her fall in love with nursing.

”I never thought I would have stuck with that job for so long, but I did.”

After graduating from her medical school with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, Nurse Anne and her friend got a job at an office. Her job was called "phone triage." Patients would call and her job would be to answer and either schedule appointments for them, or to give them any medical information they needed. After that job her friend that had worked with her got a job at Parker, and she suggested Nurse Anne should be a part time nurse with her at school. She decided to stay here. “I never thought I would have stuck with this job for so long, but I did.” A couple years later, her friend left to go to Atlanta, and she got the full time job of being a nurse at Parker. She has been the nurse here for the past 28 years. Being a nurse, Nurse Anne has seen her fair share of injuries, both big and small.

“We had a flu so bad, we had roughly 40 students down with it and had to delay the County Fair till spring.”

While interviewing Nurse Anne, we first asked her about the more injury-related predicaments. She takes pride in being able to diagnose some illnesses like strep and ear infections because she has been a nurse for so long. Also, she has to deal with the more school-wide issues. “One time,” she said, “we had a flu so bad, we had roughly 40 students down with it and had to delay the County Fair till spring.” Years ago, a student got his fingertip ripped off because it got stuck inside a door. He ran to the nurse and she immediately went to find the fingertip so that she could keep it protected until the doctors could reattach it. The kid calmed down and, eventually, his parents came. This was one of the more intense injuries. However, Nurse Anne’s job also comes with its perks, like one time when a little girl-- “about yay high,” Nurse Anne says, gesturing to her waist--came in and said, “My finger bends!” (It was bending the correct way.) In the end, Nurse Anne deals with many issues that must be a pain in the noggin, but she enjoys every visit, as do we. We understand that Nurse Anne's job can be stressful, and so we wanted to know what she does in her free time.

In her free time Nurse Anne likes to hang out with friends. Her closest friends are Ms. Zerega and Mr. Mahany. Every morning Nurse Anne does a "question of the day" with her friends. “I do the question of the day every morning, and then after school I sometimes hang out with Mr. Mahany and Ms. Zerega.” The question of the day could be a variety of many topics. Nurse Anne's job is a pleasure to her.

“Seeing the kids [grow] from JK to 12th Grade is definitely the best part of my job.”

Nurse Anne enjoys her job for many reasons, like seeing the kids every day, and the overall role of being a nurse. But her favorite part about working here is seeing the kids grow up as they walk by the office or actually come in. “Seeing the kids from JK to 12th Grade is definitely the best part of my job.” Although Nurse Anne loves her job and the many great parts about it, there are a couple things that are difficult in her daily job hours: managing all the kids' medications without losing them, and having to deal with the kids coming in at any time. But, being a nurse comes with those tasks, “and it is part of my job,” said Nurse Anne. Nurse Anne has worked at multiple places, schools and hospitals alike, but one of the things we find most interesting about her is her dedication to Parker. Nurse Anne has treated so many people, and we truly admire how engaged she is in her job.

We enjoyed interviewing Nurse Anne in her office. We were able to see her treat some patients as they trickled in while we interviewed. We got to see Nurse Anne do her job, and she does it very well, with lots of care. Nurse Anne told us a lot about her daily life and how she does her job. We had many good laughs with her, and she gave us a lot of information that will help us understand her job. Nurse Anne is a very hospitable person (no pun intended), and we highly recommend talking with her. Thank you, Nurse Anne!