Sisseton School District has nearly 1,000 enrolled students spread across three buildings. We have had a school nurse since I started working in the district, but what we found is that as our nursing services increased, we needed somebody that could provide additional support when our nurse was in a different building. Avel stepped in to provide this support and help our nurse who was spread thin.
We were seeing an increase in our number of students who needed some diabetic care plan maintenance. Our nurse just physically couldn’t do that care for students anymore, so Avel eCare helped fill this gap. One of the first interactions we had was Sheila came up to teach all of our diabetic care aids how to administer and provide services to diabetic students. She came onsite, she provided that training, she offered support through that entire process, and it was a great way to formalize our unlicensed diabetic care management plan.
One of the things that surprised us was how easy it was to use the service. Our current school nurse and I joke that we should make t-shirts that say ‘just push the button’ because that is literally all it takes to get high-quality support. Our students and our families have been very appreciative – especially when we were going through COVID – that there was always somebody else they could speak to if our nurse wasn’t onsite or in another building, we always had access to a medial professional.
Sheila and her team have been a great resource. As we are looking for additional support for our nurse – it is a one-person position on campus. Very few school districts around us have a school nurse, so it was a way for us to have some brainstorming time with another school nurse team.