DENVER — Denver Public Schools (DPS) is tackling a school nurse shortage by getting students interested in a medical career and connecting them with educational opportunities during their time in the DPS system.
DPS employs 140 school nurses to care for 85,000 students. Many nurses do not work full-time at one school and will cycle between multiple buildings.
School districts across the nation are struggling to attract and retain school nurses, especially post-pandemic.
"I think there's a lot of budgetary concerns locally and nationally. It's really hard to staff. Most of our nurses have to be bachelor's prepared. And so to hire a bachelor or master's prepared nurse, it's very expensive," said Marie Quinn, director of nursing at DPS.
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With schools already on tight budgets, it can be difficult to find the money necessary to fill the gaps in nursing. Fewer applicants are interviewing as more nurses retire from the field.
"We have to come up with solutions of how we're going to grow nurses and how we're going to get staff," said Quinn.
Quinn's initiative aims to get students interested in nursing and help them along their career path with the hopes they become school nurses in the district.
Jennifer Chavez is one of these students. Chavez graduated from the DPS system in 2023 and was ready to start working as soon as she received her diploma.
During her senior year, Chavez was concurrently enrolled in the nursing program at Emily Griffith Technical College. DPS paid for her tuition, enabling Chavez to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA) while receiving her high school diploma.
"Just having that certification after you get your diploma as a high school student is just gonna take you so far," said Chavez.
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Chavez works as a health technician at Bromwell Elementary, where she assists the school's only nurse through an internship opportunity provided by DPS. CNAs can only assist the school nurse, who is a registered nurse (RN). But here, Chavez receives real-world experience while relieving workload pressure on the staff.
"I feel like I am helping out just because, you know, we're working at a school and we're making a difference," said Chavez.
While Chavez gains experience at Bromwell, she's also studying to become an RN with the hopes of becoming a DPS school nurse.
In the meantime, Chavez feels lucky to have support from her former school system while fulfilling a need in her neighborhood.
"We just want to make sure we're prepared. We want to make sure everyone's safe, and we have those resources to help those students," she said.
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