Fluvanna County High School has many staff members working behind the scenes to keep the school intact, including the nurses in the FCHS Clinic, who lend a helping hand to students who have medical needs.
Ashley Hudgins and Chelsea Seay–commonly known among students as “Nurse Ashley” and “Nurse Chelsea”–both attended Southern Virginia University, where they majored in Nursing. Their college careers eventually led them to come to Fluvanna to serve in the clinic. Hudgins has worked in the FCHS clinic for four years, while Seay has been there for three.
Daily, the nurses’ duties include updating vaccine records, filing insurance information for students on Medicaid, administering basic medications like Tylenol, providing basic carb counts and checking glucose levels for diabetics, wrapping injuries, and as Seay puts it, “acting as built-in counselors. “We also remove ticks, and I’ve gotten really good at removing splinters,” she added.
“We see our diabetics every morning for [blood sugar] checks, we see them at lunch for checks, and we see them in the evening for checks,” said Seay.
One thing both nurses want students to realize is that taking Tylenol for a headache (a common request among students) is problematic, since too much of the over-the-counter medication can negatively affect one’s liver. As a result, Seay says that students are limited to getting Tylenol twice a week from the clinic, and then, only with written permission on file.
Instead, the nurses encourage students with a headache to practice “W.O.W.” first: drink at least 10 ounces of water, take 10 deep breaths, and then wait 30 minutes. Doing this can often make a person’s headache go away without having to resort to Tylenol or other painkillers.
The nurses also encourage students considering visiting the clinic to think first. “Think about time management and how you take up time for stuff that you may not need, or just to get out of class. It takes time from someone who really might need us,” Seay said.
Since the nurses often have multiple students coming down at various times each day to take required medications, they want to be able to focus on important medical needs, not on students who use nurse passes to just skip class.
When they are not at work, both nurses said they like to be at home with their families.
“I just like to chill,” said Seay. Hudgins agreed. “Yeah, I’m a homebody. But if I could to choose to go anywhere, it would be the beach,” she said.
If you have never visited the clinic before, be aware that students should fill out a Securly pass first, selecting “Nurse – In & Out” from the drop-down menu. You can find the clinic next to the Counseling office on the main floor of the school.
