FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Karen Kerr retired this spring after 24 years as a school nurse in the Gravette School District. She summed up the changes she has seen over those years: “It’s not a Band-Aid world any more.”

Kerr moved from work in high-risk areas of nursing including supervising a hospital operating room and working in an emergency room to the Gravette school system as the first nurse to be hired there the year before a state law required each public school district to have a school nurse.

“People think school nurses just pass out Band-Aids, but it is so much more than that,” Kerr said. “One year, I had 15 to 20 children who had to take medication at noon. Over the years, I had asthmatics, diabetics, children with heart conditions, children in wheelchairs, children who had to be tube fed and children who had required catheterization.

“There is not a typical day. You have to go to school with the mindset that anything could happen.”

Kerr, who was named the Northwest Arkansas School Nurse of the Year in 2005 by her peers, participated in the first School Nurse Summer Institute, the brainchild of nursing professors Marianne Neighbors and Kathleen Barta of the University of Arkansas’ Eleanor Mann School of Nursing.

School nurses often are the only health-care professionals at their workplace, and their role continues to expand as schools assume more responsibility for the health of students. The sixth annual School Nurse Summer Institute scheduled for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 2-4 looks at the advocacy role played by school nurses and allows them the opportunity to discuss their work with others in the profession.

“Health is an important part of education today,” Neighbors said. “We wanted to help school nurses develop leadership qualities they need to be an integral part of the school district, helping to plan and develop policies.”

“School nurses are an integral part of the intellectual capital of Arkansas communities,” Barta said. “They know the unmet health needs children bring with them to school and can help families negotiate the health-care system. Our focus on advocacy will extend the network of resources school nurses can tap for children and families.”

Reed Greenwood, dean of the UA College of Education and Health Professions, said, “The faculty of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing continue to be responsive to school nurses’ needs, taking the institute evaluations filled out each year to tailor a program for the following year. We are pleased that the college is again collaborating with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences AHEC-Northwest to improve the health of Arkansas children. The physical and emotional health of children affects their academic performance and success later in life.”

Kerr said Neighbors’ and Barta’s efforts have benefited area school nurses. The UA professors have helped to elevate school nursing to a specialty, Kerr said.

“We really wanted to bring school nurses together, to enhance their knowledge and give them more resources and offer the camaraderie of other school nurses,” Kerr said. “In a school setting, most of the time you are the lone medical professional. In a hospital, there are doctors, other nurses and technicians to call on for assistance. In a school setting, you are basically it. I would never recommend someone right out of nursing school become a school nurse. Get some experience first, whether it’s in a pediatric office or a hospital.”

The school nurse institute is organized by the UA nursing school in conjunction with the UAMS Area Health Education Center Northwest. Nurses are eligible for 17.1 hours of continuing education credits for attending the institute that will take place at the AHEC-Northwest Building III-Lecture Hall, 2855 E. Joyce St., Fayetteville.

Neighbors and Barta started the institute in 2000 after attending a session of the Arkansas Leadership Academy, a service unit of the College of Education and Health Professions. The nursing faculty members wanted to extend to school nurses the leadership development the academy offered to teachers, principals and counselors.

“This year we are looking at advocacy, how the school nurse can be an advocate for children and families, for those children with special needs and for all children in relation to health,” Neighbors said.

She described the impact of recent health initiatives by Gov. Mike Huckabee combined with legislative action affecting school districts. Among the mandates are rules governing placement of vending machines in school buildings and requirements to calculate the body mass index of students.

“We are more in tune with children’s health as far as the education system taking responsibility,” Neighbors said. “Who better to be a leader for children’s health than the school nurse?”

School nurses taking a community health course she teaches have told Neighbors they are concerned that some children aren’t getting the health care they need. Networking at the three-day institute gives the nurses ideas and information about resources to address this problem, she said. Many have attended the institute more than one year.

School nurses exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses at the institute, and Kerr built a database with more than 100 names of school nurses. Anytime something came across her desk that she thought might interest or assist school nurses, she would pass it along.

“You are looking for resources to help those kids when you get back to school,” Kerr said. “What I do in Gravette, Arkansas, might help somebody in another area of the state of Arkansas.”

Dr. Joseph Bates, deputy state public health officer and chief science officer in the state Division of Health, will deliver the keynote address for the institute, focusing on the general state of children’s health in Arkansas. Stacey McClure, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-3^rd District, will talk about action at the federal level concerning children’s health.

State Rep. Shirley Borhauer, R-Bella Vista, will talk about preparing testimony for advocacy issues at the state legislative level. Borhauer, who worked as a school nurse for 32 years in Illinois, sponsored legislation in the last session requiring one school nurse be employed for every 750 students in Arkansas. The legislation passed but accompanying legislation to fund it was not approved, and Borhauer cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

Lynn Carver of Springdale, who co-founded Arkansas Support Network for people with developmental disabilities, will discuss building an advocacy referral network. She holds a nursing degree and is running for the state Senate.

Ed Mink, director of health promotion and education at the Pat Walker Health Center on the UA campus, will talk about assertiveness required for the advocacy role.

Barta and Neighbors will present several sessions to help participants form action plans for advocacy, and local medical professionals will address specific childhood health problems including diabetes, asthma, obesity, mental illness, coping with grief and loss, and victims of violence.