6 minute read
Sue Seip: Playing a vital role in student health
CRITICAL CAREGIVER
Rising to the challenges of COVID with calm and common sense, school nurse Sue Seip plays a vital role in the health of Perham students and staff
BY ELIZABETH VIERKANT
For Luminous
At the age of 17, Sue Seip lost sight in one of her eyes due to an unusual parasitic infection. She needed strong medicines, and ended up spending nine days in the hospital to be treated.
As it turned out, the unfortunate ordeal was also an unexpected turn of fortune. It opened Seip’s eyes, ironically speaking, to the wonders of good nursing care and sparked in her a passion for the profession, inspiring a career that ended up lasting a lifetime. ”I had the most wonderful nurse those nine days,” Seip recalls. “Having someone so good to me made me want to go into nursing.”
After graduating from high school, the Wadena native studied nursing in Fargo and Bemidji and then returned to her hometown to start a career as a nurse. She found work in public health at first, and enjoyed that, she says, but it wasn’t until about 20 years ago that she fulfilled her true calling and became a school nurse. She served
An animal-lover, Seip smiles next to her beloved dog.
Submitted Photo / Sue Seip / Luminous in that role in Wadena for several years and then, in 2008, became the school nurse for Perham Public Schools.
In the 13 years since then, Seip has become a familiar and friendly face in the district’s health office, caring for staff and students who aren’t feeling well and helping to manage medications for kids with chronic conditions. It keeps her busy, even in non-COVID times, as she visits all three schools most days — elementary, middle and high school.
COVID, of course, has been a gamechanger. When that hit, Seip was faced with a whole new set of challenges. She suddenly had to wear several new hats to ensure the safety of staff and students, and her workload heavily increased. It became her job to keep close tabs on local COVID case numbers, communicate any significant developments to other leaders within
Sue Seip has been the school nurse for Perham Public Schools since 2008. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed her role dramatically, but her colleagues say she’s risen to the challenge with professionalism and a positive attitude.
the school district, and serve as the district’s public contact for all things pandemic-related.
Her colleagues say she’s risen to these challenges with poise, professionalism, and a positive attitude. Her hard work earned her the title of 2020-2021 Member of the Year by the Perham Education Association.
“She’s not the kind to boast, but it was well-deserving — she earned it,” says Mitch Anderson, the district superintendent. “She’s done an incredible job. What stands out is that she has never come to me about any complaints. She’s taken (the pandemic) head-on and accepted the challenges with a real commonsense approach.”
Seip says her previous experience in public health has been useful in her dealings with COVID as a school nurse. Her primary goal since the pandemic hit has been to keep everybody informed about changing guidelines and case numbers, in a timely fashion. She meets regularly with the Minnesota Department of Health and Otter Tail County Public Health to get relevant and accurate information, and then shares that information with students, family and staff.
Seip and her husband, Nathan, enjoy traveling together. Seip files reports and paperwork and reviews school breakfast menus in her
office in late October 2021. Elizabeth Vierkant / Luminous
When there’s a COVID exposure in the school, and when quarantines are needed, Seip takes the lead on communications, reaching out to the affected families to share information and instructions. She’s the one who calculates exposure dates and figures out who’s been exposed to the virus. She also files all the necessary reports and paperwork, and manages the district’s COVID testing supplies.
Meanwhile, she’s been giving extra help and monitoring to higherrisk students with chronic health conditions — such as diabetes and asthma — during the pandemic.
Through it all, she’s taken a nononsense approach and has kept her cool, Anderson says: “A lot of people try to make it through a whole day or week without having a difficult conversation, but she’s often calling people to give bad news before she’s even had a cup of coffee.”
“It gets a bit overwhelming at times,” Seip admits, but she tries to be optimistic. “We’re doing our best to keep everyone as healthy as possible.
She’s done an incredible job. She’s taken (the pandemic) head-on and accepted the challenges with a real common-sense approach.
We’re doing our best to keep everyone as healthy as possible. Staff, students and families have been very supportive… Even though (the pandemic) has been awful, there are good things to come out of it.
—SUE SEIP
Staff, students and families have been very supportive. There are people who get frustrated, and I understand. It’s been different times for all of us.”
“I just try to look at that positive bright side even though (things are tough),” she adds. “Even though (the pandemic) has been awful, there are good things to come out of it.”
Seip sees herself as a glass-half-full kind of person. Despite the struggles she experiences on the job, she finds plenty of joy in-between the lines. One of the biggest sources of joy for her is watching students grow older and more independent from year to year. She’s been with the Perham district for long enough now that she’s known this year’s seniors since they were in kindergarten.
“Watching all of the kids grow up is fun,” she says. “You get to see someone who’s shy and quiet in their early years become a great leader. (Oftentimes when you) work with young kids with chronic health issues, they’re dependent on you. As they get older, you get to see them become more and more independent. You get to see kids be able to manage their own health conditions and advocate for themselves.”
At 56 years old, Seip says she’s very comfortable in her career, and has found “a place to stay” in the Perham school district. She enjoys working with students and families every day, and after 13 years, “I feel like I’ve gotten to know people well — coworkers, families, administrators and the community.”
“I just really like working with students and families,” she says. “Once I got into (school nursing), I really enjoyed it.” ▲
~ Christie,
Co-Owner
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