School nurses have been an integral part of public education for more than 100 years. Sometimes, their work involves minor childhood maladies, such as scraped knees or runny noses. More often, however, it is important support of the health and well-being of students, from monitoring vaccinations or communicable diseases to assisting families in finding access to health care.

And, during these past 14 months, school nurses have been on the front lines of public health in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our community. From the beginning of the pandemic, the school nurses at Des Moines Public Schools have helped with the mitigation efforts at our schools, made sure there were safe protocols in place for students or staff who showed symptoms, and supported the work to get staff and students vaccinated. Many even volunteered their free time to provide support to the general public, too.

Collectively, school nurses have been in-house experts for DMPS as the school district has worked to balance the health needs of the community and the educational needs of our students.

There is now a changing of the guard in the “head nurse” position at the school district. After 22 years with DMPS – including the last four as the district’s health services supervisor – Diane Gladson is retiring. Her tenure saw her support the health needs of students at Lovejoy, Moulton, and Smouse over the years. While she has been an important voice and leader throughout the pandemic, her work has also made a difference in several other ways, most recently expanding the number of defibrillators throughout the district.

DMPS wishes Diane the best in her retirement and is pleased to also announce our new health services supervisor: Melissa Abbott.

Melissa joined DMPS in 2019 and has been the school nurse at Cattell Elementary School. She brings a range of nursing experience to her new role. Melissa began her career as a school nurse in Spirit Lake, IA; was a Registered Nurse, working in community health and behavioral health, at Spencer Hospital; and was the director of home health and hospice for Lakes Regional Healthcare.

“I will miss my Cattell Elementary family an incredible amount but am excited to now have an opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of almost 32,000 students and 5,000 staff,” said Abbott. “My goal is to continually work with the DMPS team in collaboration with our community partners to promote student health and facilitate development so that students can advance academically. I look forward to being a resource and support for not only students and families but also to DMPS employees.”

Melissa earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Iowa Lakes Community College, a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Iowa, and a master’s degree in both nursing and healthcare administration from the University of Phoenix.

She knows her colleagues matter greatly to the well-being of students: “DMPS school nurses are leaders within the school building who bridge health care and education and are advocates for quality student-centered care.”

While the past year has been unlike any other in the past century when it comes to healthcare, she is confident in both what the future holds as well as the school district taking the right steps this past year.

“We are still in the COVID-19 pandemic, but I feel that we are headed in the right direction. As a district, we will continue to work closely with Polk County Health Department to ensure we are following mitigation strategies and recommendations to the best of our ability,” added Abbott. “I feel, despite the ‘COVID-19 Fatigue’ that has set in, our district is a leader in following the guidelines and doing what is best to protect the health and well-being of students, staff and our community.”