CARIBOU, Maine — The RSU 39 (Caribou and Stockholm) Board of Education voted on Dec. 16 to seek an additional nurse position after hearing a presentation from the district’s three registered nurses.
The nurses, Debora Plourde, Trina Coffin, and Lana Picard, explained their expanded duties in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic and requested the district seek a fourth nurse.
“We all have a bit of PTSD when a phone rings in the office, if it says CDC,” Coffin said. “Usually we’ll receive a notification from a parent for a positive test or also get a phone call from the CDC.”
If someone informs them of a positive case, they verify the information with the CDC, then notify the superintendent, administrators and hospital personnel. From there, contact tracing begins.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have some very good people on our team working with us,” she said. “We could not have done this without school secretaries, administrators, and staff.”
Contact tracing for an asymptomatic patient goes back 48 hours from receipt of a positive test. Tracing for a patient with symptoms goes back 48 hours from when symptoms first began to develop.
The task can be daunting if those students were in school for the day, but once all the potential contacts are identified, the three nurses notify all of those contacts.
“We don’t want to delineate that job to anybody else,” said Coffin, “because with parents it’s not just a quick phone call. You have a lot of questions, we’re giving them a lot of information, you have a lot of anxiety, and we’re trying to delve into a lot of things with them. So we want to keep that with us to answer questions about that.”
Attendance records are important, they said, to ensure that no phone calls are made to parents whose children were not in school on a day where a potential exposure could have taken place.
Picard said 118 students tested for the virus, resulting in three positives between August and Oct. 14, and that 40 staff have tested with one positive result.
Currently, 138 students and 24 staff are in quarantine, which includes only contacts nurses have personally called, and not quarantined individuals who have tested and are awaiting results, Picard said.
While nursing duties have increased during the day, Picard said they are also contacted by staff or parents on nights, weekends, and all hours of the day with questions and concerns. Additionally, they offer education on the virus and symptom checking.
“We’re also investigating student absences now,” she said, “so if someone is not in school, then it’s a phone call. It’s often taking us about an hour in the morning just to call parents and answer emails regarding absences, and then educating them regarding that information.”
These responsibilities go beyond their regular duties, which include plans for asthma, diabetes management, seizure action, allergy, concussion management, sports physicals, and vision and hearing screenings. They conduct training regarding medications and EpiPens, and Plourde said they were even able to hold a CPR class amid COVID conditions.
“We’re keeping on going,” she said. “We are tired, and as you can see with the additional responsibilities, we are requesting another full time nurse position for RSU 39.”
Plourde thanked administrators and staff, as well as Cary Medical Center, Pines Health Services and Northern Light Health, for their increased communication and support.
RSU 39 Board Chairperson Tanya Sleeper commended the nurses for their hard work and for taking a lead role in navigating the pandemic.
“I think you have more than supported the need for another nurse,” Sleeper said.
Caribou Community School Assistant Principal Travis Barnes also commended the nurses.
“We’ve been in the situation at Caribou Community School where we’ve had to contact trace, and I would not have wanted to do it with anybody else. They knew what they needed to do, they guided us in the right direction, and I just think we’re very fortunate to have these three ladies in our health services.”
RSU 39 Superintendent Tim Doak said the nurses have helped the administration tremendously when it comes to navigating the pandemic. He and Sleeper requested they return with periodic updates.
“I can not tell you enough,” he said, “it’s nauseating just how much I brag about the nurses. They make my job so much easier.”
Doak added that another reason for an additional nurse would be if an individual case needs more attention, such as diabetes shots or additional needs for care. The board approved a motion to advertise for an additional, full-time nurse.
While the vote authorized advertising for the position, a salary has not yet been determined. Doak said this is the first time the district has hired a new nurse in several years, and that when determining their salary the district will look at what nurses both in the school district and local hospitals are making, as well as the specific applicant’s qualifications.
