Sandy post., January 26, 1978, Image 13

SECTION TWO SANDY, ORE., THURS., JAN. 26. 1978
From skinned knees
to aching heads,
Joyce K ram er keeps
track o f young charges
Some kids think she’s a doctor; others think she’s a
dentist.
Joyce Kramer, school nurse for Sandy Union High
School and its feeder elementary schools, is ac­
customed to the mix-ups. Besides applying first aid to
the common ailments of youth such as skinned knees
and elbows, she also checks the eyes and teeth of her
numerous charges.
“ I love kids—really get a kick out of them,” says
Mrs. Kramer, who has served area schools for the past
three years. ‘‘It’s a good thing too. I have four of my
own.”
The nurse started her training at Providence
Hospital but quit and got married ten months short of
graduating. She went back to school a few years later
and was in the first graduating class of Mt. Hood
Community College’s registered nurse program. She
worked in the obstetrics ward at Gresham Community
Hospital and in the orthopedics ward at Providence
Hospital before going to work in Sandy. Both ex­
periences proved valuable.
One of the first things she found at the high school
were several “very pregnant” girls.
In Mrs. Kramer’s eyes, one of the main lackings in
the Sandy area educational programs is sex education.
“ It’s something no one wants to touch with a ten foot
pole,” she observed. “ I think it’s needed in the seventh
and eighth grades—before high school.”
She said she agrees with those who say that the ideal
sex education is done on an individual basis by the
parents. But reality dictates otherwise, she added.
‘‘With 4,000 kids, there’s no way you can have a
totally individualistic program on something like
that.”
She said there was some talk last year of having
a committee comprised of teachers, ministers and
members of the community discuss possibilities for
such a program. Plans for discussing the program
were dropped, she said.
"I wonder if anything done by a committee ever gets
done,” she remarked. ‘‘It’s like the poor giraffe. He
looks like he was formed by a committee.
“ It seems like the ones who holler loudest don’t ever
teach their kids anything. They’re so unapproachable
that their kids never ask.”
She said she can offer no easy solution for girls who
tell her that they are pregnant “There i>4MM>ne ,
solution,” she said. “Whatever you do is going to hurt
someone down the line. I have mixed feelings about
abortion or carrying the baby.”
In making the rounds of the local schools, Mrs.
Kramer runs at a hectic pace. She’s at one school one
day, another a half a day. Sometimes she is called for a
minor emergency; but many days she takes care of a
myriad of problems.
She recalled one boy at Firwood School who com­
plained about having regular headaches.
“When does it hurt,” the school nurse asked, hoping
for an answer which would pinpoint a particular time
of day.
“ It hurts on Tuesdays and Fridays,” he answered.
Still another youngster at Sandy Ridge School told
Mrs. Kramer that he suffered from a toothache every
Tuesday.
One of her favorite stories involves a child who
hadn’t seen the dentist for several years
“ How long has it been since you’ve been at the
dentist,” Mrs. Kramer asked the boy.
“Since I was8,” came the reply.
“How come you haven’t been back since then,” she
queried.
“The dentist looked at my teeth, said they were fine
and that I didn’t need to come back.”
Before Mrs. Kramer was hired, the area schools
didn’t have any regular nurse service except when the
Clackamas County Public Health nurse would make
pa rt-time visits to the district schools.
“Then their (Clackamas County) budget got cut and
that was one of the things eliminated,” said Mrs.
Kramer.
SAY AHH ... the school nurse talks about
teeth care with Donna Ewing, 9, of Cottrell.
The area’s growth is causing the nurse to spread her
services a little thinner each year.
“ I think the district is getting big enough to support
two nurses without any trouble.”
Besides weighing and measuring children twice a
year, she also performs regular checks of teeth and
eyes with the help of parents.
“The parents are sure neat,” she said. “So many of
them are willing to help and are interested enough in
what’s happening to their kid to put in some time and
do something about it.”
One of her special projects has been checking
youngsters for scoliosos—a condition with a curved
spine which hits 80 percent more girls than boys.
The rewards are helping kids
“I think I help kids. I see them get better.”
Story/ photos
by Sue Lafky
EYE CHECKS AND dental checks are regularly
carried out by the Sandy nurse. The week of Jan. 18-23
is National School Nurse Week.
Now in GRESHAM!
JOYCE KRAMER MAKES
THE ROUNDS of Sandy High
School and its five feeder
elementary school districts.