Students go to see their school nurse at least once in their lives, whether it is to get a band-aid, a cough drop, or medicine for a stomach virus. It’s a busy job every day, with the constant checking of students’ blood sugar levels to handing out TUMS to those with upset stomachs. At LCM, Nurse Susan Bayliss gets the privilege of holding this special position.

Bayliss has been a nurse for LCMCISD for 22 years but it wasn’t what she always thought she would be. She said that throughout her high school career, she planned to become a teacher.

“I was very active in FTA (Future Teachers of America) and really thought I’d like to teach high school English,” Bayliss said.

When she was in high school, one of the privileges that was given to senior FTA members who had good grades was to sit as a “period sub” in the classroom if a teacher was out for a period.

“By the end of the year I decided that maybe I should re-evaluate my thoughts about being a teacher,” Bayliss said. “My parents tried to help me decide on different career options, one being health care.”

She graduated from LCMHS in 1974, then started out at Lamar University in Beaumont for two years before transferring to McNeese University in Lake Charles. She graduated from there in December of 1978 with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. She then left to earn her Master’s degree in nursing at the University of Texas at Galveston. Soon after she received her degree, she started working full-time as a nurse.

“I worked for seven years as an ER nurse at the Orange Hospital and spent nine years teaching nursing at Lamar State College Orange and Lamar University in Beaumont,” Bayliss said. “I also held part-time nursing jobs in the area of home health, labor and delivery, case management and geriatrics. I worked some weekends as shift nursing supervisor at the Orange Hospital.”

According to Bayliss, the most interesting things she saw as a nurse were from her time working at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in the labor and delivery unit.

“To see a baby born is one of the most beautiful and focusing experiences that one can have,” she said.

Bayliss said one reason she started working as a school nurse is because she has always enjoyed working for children and spent many hours volunteering at her children’s school when they were little.

“I had two young children at the time and liked kids, so I felt school nursing would be a good spot for me,” Bayliss said.

She said the best aspect of nursing is that she is always learning something new.

“Nursing is very versatile,” Bayliss said. “If you feel like you’d like to try to work and learn about another area of nursing, the opportunities are endless. You are never bored as a nurse.”