PITTSBURG, Kan. — To recognize National School Nurse Day May 6, which is also the start of National Nurses Week, The Morning Sun is highlighting Beth Kimzey, Pittsburg Community Middle School’s nurse.

“I love helping people,” Kimzey said. “That's been my life's goal, to help people. I like to be around people in general. So nursing is a great way to do both those things, and it's flexible.”

Kimzey was born and raised in Pittsburg, graduated from Pittsburg High School and attended Pittsburg State University where she completed her nursing degree.

After she graduated, she moved to Paola where she worked in a hospital for around seven years.

“When I first started, I had three really young kids, and the 12-hour shifts are really hard with the family to afford daycare and childcare things like that,” Kimzey said. “And I just felt like I missed out on a lot of their events and lives.”

Kimzey and her husband decided to move back to Pittsburg to raise their family, and her husband, who is a teacher, encouraged her to try school nursing. This year marks Kimzey’s 12th school year at PCMS.

During her time at PCMS, one big change that she has seen is that more resources are available. The school partners with Community Health Center at Southeast Kansas (CHC/SEK) by bringing optional vaccine clinics and other services to the schools to help parents.

“It’s kind of bringing the doctor's office to school, per se, to help kids,” Kimzey said. “We do telemedicine visits and things that parents want that it's offered.”

When she first started in the field, if the children came to her office ill, the parents had to come pick up the children.

“But now we've tried to help parents out a little bit and provide some services here at school if they choose to have them,” she said.

Helping families as a whole is a reason that Kimzey feels she makes an impact by being a school nurse.

“I think when you see kids at the hospital, you only see them at their sickest,” she said. “You miss that opportunity in that window to help them before they're their sickest. So being here is an opportunity to help families, maybe catch a kid that is becoming ill or starting to have problems, help the family say, hey, probably this would be a good doctor's visit. You know, maybe you know, their asthma has really been acting up the few days I've seen them a lot. Maybe if you can get them to the doctor, we can prevent a hospital stay or an ER visit, per se. So, I think that's a good way to make a connection, both with the family and with the kids, and build relationships.”

Kimzey said she enjoys making connections with the students for the three years they attend PCMS and seeing them out in the community. While many jobs can cause burnout, she said, she has yet to experience it at PCMS.

“I love the kids, and there's always something new,” she said. “You never know what each day is going to bring.”

This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.