Has this ever happened to you? I'm sitting in my office last week when the secretary comes to tell me a parent wants to speak with me. I assumed the child goes to our school, and she proceeded to ask me, if I could check her daughters hair for lice. I noticed that her daughter was not in uniform and I did not recognize her name. The mother informed me she saw our school sign on the street and wanted to stop by because she thought her daughter picked up lice or bedbugs on the airplane. they were from another state passing through our state going on vacation.
I assisted them and gave directions to the closest urgent care. They entire family (5) piled back into the minivan and continued on their trip.
Unbelievable. Or it SHOULD be unbelievable, but people will do anything these days. You probably felt like saying 'Do you think this is Jiffy Lube, or what?'.
WOW. That is crazy. I think u did the right thing by telling them where the nearest urgent care is. This day and age I'm surprised she didn't use her cell phone to find an urgent care. I mean maybe she didn't have a phone. But REALLY!! Let's just stop by an office and see if they can ck my kid for lice or bed bugs! Ughhh
I'm surprised she didn't want to use YOUR cell phone to make a call. Be sure to de-bug it when she hands it back to you.
I'm surprised, though, at how easily they got in. Most schools have locked doors, keycards, security, and the whole nine yards these days. You may want to bring that up with your school system.
That's crazy. I really just don't understand people. Doing something like that would never cross my mind, and it's amazes me when other people think to.
And if her kiddo was made to wait in your office (if they are already attending your school) while you checked out the travelling Willbury's, can you even imagine the uproar??????
I had a woman ask for the school nurse at the front desk. She has older parents that live across the street from the school. She lives 3 hours away and asked me if I could check on her parents at 10am & 4pm "just to make sure they are eating - I'll pay you." Well it is probably NOT appropriate for me to go to another job, while I am at work and I leave at 3:15 which is way to early for dinner. I did pass her number to several people that live nearby. Not sure what the outcome was.
I had a woman ask for the school nurse at the front desk. She has older parents that live across the street from the school. She lives 3 hours away and asked me if I could check on her parents at 10am & 4pm "just to make sure they are eating - I'll pay you." Well it is probably NOT appropriate for me to go to another job, while I am at work and I leave at 3:15 which is way to early for dinner. I did pass her number to several people that live nearby. Not sure what the outcome was.
There are a few elderly people that live near our school and from time to time they will call and ask if they can come over and get their B/P checked. But they come here. I have one parent that has younger kids at home and she sometimes will stop by and ask me to check temps or look in little ones ears before she drives out of town to the peds office.
That's crazy. I'm assuming both parents and every other member of the family is blind and could not check themselves? That's not safe for driving either.
ETA- This is also a terrible testament to what people think school nurses do. Sad.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
They entire family (5) piled back into the minivan and continued on their trip.
Perhaps this family of five was part of the invisible homeless epidemic. I cannot imagine any other normal family taking a road trip across state lines when their three young children are supposed to be in school.
Maybe they were living out of this minivan... February is not a popular month for taking the kids on vacation because it involves removal from school.
djh123
1,101 Posts
Unbelievable. Or it SHOULD be unbelievable, but people will do anything these days. You probably felt like saying 'Do you think this is Jiffy Lube, or what?'.