Phones ringing, students checking in, and reports being run are just a few of the things that go on daily in the high school nurses’ office. Although their days can be quite busy, nurses Jeannie Alexander and Lisa Fuselier enjoy the role they have in serving high school students.

Alexander has been a nurse at the high school for three years and said one of her favorite parts about her job is getting to know the students. Another perk is getting to see her own children from time to time on campus.

“I absolutely love getting to see my own kids and their friends while I’m at work,” Alexander said. “It’s probably the best part of my job. It’s awesome to watch them grow up and mature in their time on our campus.”

Fuselier has worked at the high school for 10 years and said she has made lots of memories during that time. She also said there can be many challenges every day simply because she never knows what kind of health issues or emergency situations may take place. Despite these challenges, she still enjoys being a school nurse.

“The best thing I like is working with students that I have watched grow up and helping them when they have health issues,” Fuselier said.

According to Alexander, a typical day in the nurses office includes everything from keeping track of student records to calling parents and helping students. She and Fuselier also take care of vision and hearing screenings.

“We are responsible for the health side of our students and staff,” Alexander said. “We maintain the immunization records and health information on students. We communicate with the parents and doctors on a daily basis to care for our students.”

Alexander said that on any given day, she and Fuselier see 50-60 students or staff for clinic visits. She also said it’s challenging to juggle the paperwork side of being responsible for almost 1,100 students and 150 staff members while seeing students in the clinic.

Alexander has been a Registered Nurse since she was 21 years old. She has worked at St. Elizabeth in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in the Pediatric ICU before she stayed at home with her young children. The hours were part of what motivated Alexander to become a school nurse.

“I didn’t want to work 12 hour shifts and miss out on my own kids’ events,” Alexander said. “I love the age of the high school kids and wanted to work with them.”

Before Fuselier became a nurse, she worked in the Insurance department at a family practice physicians office.

“Working in a medical office, it soon became clear that I wanted to pursue a nursing career,” she said.

In recent months, Alexander and Fuselier have been able to move into their new office on campus and said they are thrilled to have more space and storage.

“We absolutely love the new office,” Fuselier said. “The space is great and allows us to house the other school nurses post-Harvey so that we can take care of all the kids on our campus.”