You have a headache, it’s been pounding for two days, and you finally decided you need help. Do you go to the nurse? Do you schedule an appointment at East’s health clinic? Here are tips to help you decide if you should go to the nurse or go to the health clinic.

“As the school’s nurse, we are in charge of the health office, so we see students throughout the day that has health needs or that aren’t feeling well, that are sick we also monitor immunizations and make sure that all students are up to date on immunizations. We help schedule appointments for students at the health clinics, the primary health care at East high school. We help schedule a lot of students there. We are in charge of creating plans for students that have health conditions we also distribute medication for students that need medications throughout the day,” Nurse Ashley Reynolds said.

Nurses play a vital role for our community. They are needed especially in schools to look out for students’ physical health. You will never know when you will have an upset stomach or sudden symptoms of sickness.

“We do offer a safe place for students, we have students that come in who feel safe in our office. We also collaborate with the counselors as well if it’s more of a mental health issue and we are working with counselors with that to help create a safe environment somewhere in this school for the students,” Reynolds said.

The nurse’s office is a safe space for students. Never be afraid to ask for help when it comes to our nurses.

“Kids who are sick during the school day or not feeling well can come to the nurse’s office and we can help assess them, and then the clinic is more like a doctor’s office they have a provider that is staff there that is there Tuesday and Thursday mornings that you have to make appointments for in advance. So, if the student is sick for a long period of time, if they need any immunizations, if they just need a checkup for a physical, we would schedule them an appointment at the primary health care. Here at the nurse’s office, we just see kids on a walk in basis, if they’re just not feeling well, if they need somebody to talk to, we also have feminine hygiene products, we have regular hygiene products for students like deodorant if they need that, we also help collaborate with the community schools coordinator if they need a change of clothes,” Reynolds said. The nurse’s office is a walk-in place so you can go in whenever you are not feeling well. The nurse’s office also provides much more for Scarlets.

“We make sure immunizations are compliant, checking kids for illness symptoms so we can see if they need further evaluation by a doctor, we help students that have diabetes make sure they are safe, we have other students that we check blood pressures on regularly for physician orders from offices, we make emergency plans for students that have allergies, asthma, we have emergency evacuation plans. Those are the main things, immunizations definitely take up most of our time,” Nurse Stacy Geer said.

Geer helps manage students help along with Reynolds and care for the daily health needs of students at East High School. Additionally, the nurses keep track of student’s immunizations to prevent illnesses from spreading around East High.

“Primary health care East High clinic is located in the very back left-hand corner of the library, so it is the southwest corner of the building,” Geer said.

It may be difficult to locate where the clinic is, especially since the Primary Health Care is newly built. In urgent situations it is crucial to memorize the location of the clinic. Which is the left-hand corner of the library.

“Primary Health Care only opens on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. So, she is here from eight till noon. We are a little limited in our appointments, we are hoping to get her here five days a week at some point. We are just not there yet. Emergency for the nurse’s office, we get called for students that faint, students that have blood sugar, students that have seizures, we may have somebody that could be suspicious for using we don’t know what it could a substance of alcohol just to make sure everybody is safe,” Geer said.

So, before deciding whether you should check in with the Primary Health Care at East High or enter the nurse’s office, remember that East’s Primary Health Care provides basic health care service, and you will receive necessary medical assistance. As for the nurse’s office, you can walk in any time during the school day to checkup with the nurses.