A Day in the Life of a Health Educator

After a great commute on Chicago Public Transportation (shoutout brown line!), I arrived at Roosevelt High School. As I walk through the school to the school-based health center, my host site, I say hello to passing teachers and students. The purpose of school-based health centers is to provide primary care providers to the students, allowing students to take control of their health and get to their appointments without needing to rely on their parents. Today, the first thing I get to do is one of my favorites: teach dental classes! I spent the first few periods teaching the health class the importance of dental hygiene, as well as providing information about how to see our dentist. This class happens each year for the freshman and sophomores, and is vital to ensuring students feel in the loop and in control of their dental care!

Next, I leave the classroom and head back to the school-based clinic. From here, I meet with some students 1-on-1 to talk about specific health goals and steps we can take to help them achieve this. It helps inform the student on their health, as well as build healthy habits. In between these meetings, I prepare for my health club meetings. We meet once a month to talk about overarching health problems the students are facing. This club is a chance for students to voice their concerns and their ideas, and helps us accommodate the students perspective when making decisions about the clinic. 

To finish off my day, I focus on the school’s list of non-compliant students. A student is considered non-compliant if the school does not have a record of their required vaccinations and/or their required school physical. The clinic plays a vital role in helping acquire these records for the school, as well as catch students up on vaccines as necessary. This is often the most confusing for students, so I always spend time with them to talk about their specific records on file. Our nurse practitioner also spends time explaining the importance of these vaccines and why they are required by the school. I organize the non-compliance list, keep it updated as we get more records on file, and help the school reach out to students about their non-compliance. Overall, it is a lot of communication about school requirements and figuring out how the clinic can help students meet these requirements.