Karrie Kotfila wants you to know that being a school nurse goes far beyond putting band-aids on kids' scrapes and scratches. Just a few weeks ago, Nurse Kotfila instantly responded to shouts from down the hall and used an abdominal thrust, more commonly known as the Heimlich maneuver, to save a young boy who was choking during lunch.
Kotfila has been a nurse for 37 years and currently serves as the sole nurse at Murkland Elementary School in Lowell, Massachusetts and is a member of AFSCME Local 1705.
Lowell School Nurse Karrie Kotfila. (Zac Bears/AFSCME Council 93)
She is responsible for over 530 students and staff at Murkland and provides daily medical care and health education to between 30 and 40 pre-kindergarten to fourth grade students.
"It's busy. They come to you right off the bus, and you're almost like their little clinic," Kotfila said. "They're little kids. They don't know."
There aren't too many serious incidents, like the choking incident, she said. But she is constantly assessing students and keeps inhalers and epi-pens for students with asthma and severe allergies.
Having a school nurse in the building is important, according to Kotfila, because untrained people often panic in serious situations such as when a person is choking or seriously injured in some way.
"You need to be right there because someone can go from breathing to not breathing very quickly," Kotfila said.
Recently, Kotfila was assessing two students in her office when she suddenly heard staff members yelling down the hall for her.
"I got the call and I literally ran," she said. "I say a prayer every time. 'God please be with me and help me make the right decision.' I say a prayer every day before work."
The incident happened right in the middle of lunch, and staff took the choking student out into the hall. Luckily, the other students didn't realize that their peer was in danger so they didn't panic, she said.
"I was really lucky," Kotfila explained, "because, when I did the abdominal thrust, I knew the child was okay. But I did have to make sure the parents took him to a pediatrician the same day."
Luckily, Kotfila had some experience with clearing airways when a person is choking—she performed an abdominal thrust on her son-in-law and once performed one on herself as well.
"I had to think quick, because otherwise you're going to pass out, and I ran and hit the kitchen counter," she recounted. "I was already seeing stars though."
These issues don't happen too often at any particular school, but there have been multiple incidents citywide this year. Nurses have had to perform CPR on children and staff. In one incident, nurses saved the life of a high school student whose heart stopped while he was sitting in class.
While she's responsible for any medical emergencies or health issues that occur at school, the most rewarding part of the job for Kotfila is educating the children on health and hygiene.
Nurse Karrie Kotfila with her students Damien Jackman, Nomar Garcia, Hermione Rivera, Antoine Jackman and Destiny Jackman. (Zac Bears/AFSCME Council 93)
"Yeah, anyone can put a band-aid on," she said. "But I'm teaching them about why they need to wash it, why they need to keep it clean. There's a lot that goes into each encounter. It's not just the physical part."
Kotfila explained that her school educates a lot of low-income students, and she can provide services that help children and their families. She has assisted non-English-speaking parents in learning how to use an epi-pen through an interpreter. She works through a program at UMass Lowell to provide resources like vacuum cleaners to mitigate environmental asthma triggers in the home. Just recently, she helped bring the "Vision Van" to Murkland so students could get free eye examinations, and she spent weeks before hand corralling permission from parents.
"That day we had 14-15 kids seen by the eye doctor," she explained. "That's just one program. It's a lot of work, but it helped 14 kids."
Kotfila also volunteers her time to provide a free yoga class to students before school in the morning. Ten third and fourth graders join her to practice yoga for 30 minutes in the morning. It's not a part of her job, she said, but she likes to do it and it helps her students build confidence.
"A lot of people don't understand what we do. They think we just put band-aids on," Kotfila explained. "We do a lot more than that. We do a lot of teaching and outreach."
The day before interviewing for this story, she went to the Lowell Diaper Bank to pick up diapers for a family that couldn't afford them. Kotfila didn't even know that Lowell had a diaper bank until recently.
Between the emergency response, routine medical care and useful health and hygiene education she provides to her students, Kotfila clearly plays an essential role in building a vibrant and healthy community.
"It's busy. We definitely need nurses in the schools."