The outdated image many people have of the school nurse falls further and further from the actual duties each day in Douglas County.

Today, a typical day calls for a school nurse to perform the typical duties while donning the hats of dietician, along with several other duties at multiple schools.

In Douglas County, Sweetwater Elementary and Lithia Springs High School nurse Becky Wylie said, there are only seven nurses to cover the system’s numerous schools. This, she said, makes the role of school nurse increasingly important.

There is no such thing as a typical day, school nurse Charlotte Fulton said. Because the illnesses they face can change in the blink of an eye, nurses have to be ready for anything.

One of the nurse’s jobs, Ms. Fulton said, is to not only assist the students, but to keep them in school if possible.

“We deal with everything from severe allergies to diabetes,” she said. “There are a lot of times where the initial reaction might be to send the child home. But, a lot of times, we can deal with the problem here and keep them in class. That can be big as far as keeping the child from getting behind in school work.”

One method to keep students in class, Ms. Wylie said, is prevention. Each day she travels to different schools during the students’ lunch periods to survey the student’s specific dietary needs.

“We help them go through what they have eaten and what they have had to try to keep their diets balanced out,” she said. “For a student with diabetes, their levels can change in a minute. We try to help them stick to a diet that will give them a better chance to keep consistent numbers.”

The demands of a nurse, Lithia Springs High School special education instructor Claudia Beaty said, are growing each year. This, she added, makes the role of school nurses more important than ever before.

“Right now children come to school with more health issues than ever before and the nurses are our go-to people,” she said. “We couldn’t do our job without them. They are truly a blessing.”

The presence of school nurses means more than healthy children, Ms. Beaty said. Test scores and funding also hinge on the students’ abilities to attend school and learn.

“We need healthier children if we want the scores to go up and the school nurses are the first line of defense,” she said. Though the workload can be tough, Ms. Wylie said knowing that she is helping the children is rewarding.

“We enjoy our jobs and we enjoy the kids,” she said. “We do it for the kids.”