For nearly a decade Cam Donnell taught first grade in Oklahoma City Public Schools.
She enjoyed her time with the children immensely.
But when it was time to build a home and a family she stepped away from the classroom.
Five years went by and she knew she needed to get back into the workforce.
But the classroom wasn’t calling her name this time, nursing was.
So Donnell decided to go back to school as a student, this time earning her ADN from Redlands Community College.
And as her nursing career winds down, she’s once again working with children as one of some 30 Oklahoma City Public Schools nurses.
May 10 is National School Nurse Day.
This year, Dave & Buster’s will host Donnell and other OKCPS nurses at an appreciation celebration.
Sponsors Supermercados Morelos, Buy For Less, Capitol Hill Florist and Gifts and La Oaxaquena Bakery have all donated generously to honor the nurses who take care of nearly 46,000 metro school children daily.
But as a school nurse, every day is a celebration for Donnell.
“There’s a lot of reasons,” Donnell, RN, said of why she’s nursing. “Maybe it’s the interaction with people and the feeling you’re making a difference and helping people, but also just the practicality of the diverse things you can do in nursing. There’s so many different areas for the different seasons of your life.
“School nursing is a perfect fit for me in this season.
“That’s why I went back into the school. It just kind of filled a void.”
Her nursing career has taken her onto the cardiac floor at Deaconess. A change of pace brought her to hospice, which would prepare her for the loss of her mother and mother-in-law.
“I think it was meant to be that I did that,” she acknowledges.
Long-term care, wound care and even nursing in her church’s free clinic followed.
And then in 2012 there was school nursing.
“You get the benefit of the joy that children can bring,” Donnell said. “They’re so funny and endearing but you don’t have the discipline that you would have in the classroom.
“Generally, when they come to the clinic they don’t feel well. They’re sweet and loving and you just get to love on them. It’s fun.
“Most times it doesn’t really feel like a job. It’s like a great hobby.”
Splitting time between Kaiser and Monroe elementary schools, Nurse Cam is a rockstar for these kids.
“That’s the whole reason I do it,” Donnell explained. “Maybe it’s just the note I get that day that says “Thank you Nurse Cam for helping me.’ I get those a lot. Or it’s a picture of me and them holding hands.
“Or it’s a little kid that comes in for a hug first thing in the morning – every single day. I think it’s not really nursing for me anymore. It’s about the relationships.”
There’s often a waiting line to get in to see Nurse Cam.
“It’s like being a grandma – which I’m anxious to be but nobody is ready for me to do that yet,” said Donnell, who’s waiting on two daughters and a son to get things going. “They’re coming at some point.”
With Oklahoma City’s year-round calendar she’s afforded opportunities to hop on a plane and remind her kids she’s still waiting. Eight weeks of summer break gives her plenty of time to make it to Seattle, Los Angeles and then Houston to check up on her own kids.
Two weeks in the spring, a couple in the fall and then three weeks for Christmas break also afford her nice breaks during the year.
“More and more as a school nurse we’re really limited in treatments,” Donnell said. “We can’t give Tylenol anymore. I call it more like mommy nursing.”
She plans on retiring from “mommy nursing” one day. She doesn’t miss the hectic clinic schedule and certainly not the pace of the hospital floor.
But she will miss those handwritten notes from children whose day she’s made a little brighter.
And to the parents of children staying home sick she has advice.
“I think parents have a lot on their plate. They’re busy with work and financial obligations and they feel pressured to hurry back to work,” Donnell said. “I would ask parents to enjoy that time with your kid when they’re sick and sweet and needy because you don’t get it back. They grow up so fast.”
