The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many lessons – including the value of school nurses. They were literally on the front lines, as they always have been, in fighting illness, implementing medical protocols and returning students and staff to good health.

Historically, school nurses have been fairly isolated. They work in health care settings within an academic environment and don’t have a lot of daily interaction with other nurses. That isolation really got to Dianne Holme, R.N., when she was the sole nurse for the Canby School District.

“I started thinking about the things I wanted, and one of them was support,” Dianne said. “Most of the nurses know each other and they really reach out to each other, but we needed something more structured.”

Over the past year, she’s gotten the chance to personally build that regional network of support as the new health services supervisor at Clackamas ESD. In that role, Dianne has helped build a program from the ground up to empower and support nurses serving schools in Clackamas County.

One of her first acts was to readjust monthly “community of practice” gatherings to bring regional school nurses together to problem solve and brainstorm how to handle various health situation scenarios. Thanks to Dianne’s large network of contacts, these online sessions have featured an array of guests – from a prominent OHSU pediatric endocrinologist, to a transgender youth support specialist, to Clackamas County’s immunization coordinator – to help nurses build their knowledge and skill base.

“Even though COVID has been going on, there are so many other things happening with students’ health that nurses need to deal with,” Dianne explained. “Students share all kinds of information with nurses, so we always want to know the right and best things to say and do in all the situations we encounter.”

Dianne and her team also are key liaisons to other health partners. In spring 2022, Dianne learned from her nurse colleagues that they wanted more information and training about the use of NARCAN, the prescription treatment for opioid overdoses. Dianne worked with her partners at Clackamas County Public Health to develop a comprehensive training protocol that will allow regional nurses to receive NARCAN prescriptions from the county public health officer and administer treatments, once they’ve completed the training. In addition, Dianne has built deeper connections with the Oregon School Nurses Association and the Oregon Health Authority, giving regional nurses more direct opportunities to share feedback on support needs and other issues. Clackamas ESD’s health services team also has built a robust resource library that provides health care templates and other information nurses need regularly.

Equally important, the team is now providing more direct nursing services. Leslie Delgado, student health access coordinator, offers nursing support to preschoolers enrolled in the ESD’s Head Start to Success program. Henry Villarreal works part time as a registered nurse for our Heron Creek Therapeutic Program, providing daily coverage for nursing needs. And Emma Utterback, who joined Clackamas ESD in fall 2021, is the full-time nurse for schools in the Gladstone School District – and coaching the Kraxberger Middle School volleyball team in her spare time.

In her role overseeing our health services, Dianne has made sure to keep human connections a priority.

“Because our nurses are isolated, I wanted to make sure that personal outreach was a part of my job. I visit nurses in our districts regularly to see their health rooms and offer any help I can,” Dianne said.  “Being a school nurse has been particularly hard these past couple of years, so it’s been rewarding to find ways to bring these wonderful professionals together and support them.”