People often think of the school nurse’s job as relatively meaningless and unimportant, as depictions of them in the media show them with little ability to do their jobs, mostly just watching students while they rest, waiting for their parent to pick them up. The fact that this is legitimate medical advice as well as this being the result of an underfunded school is ignored, and it’s often suggested that the nurse has little if any medical training.

This is not the case with our school nurse, Mary Groh, who has had thirty years of experience after receiving her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Linfield College, her last eight years spent at Wilsonville High School.

Prior to this, Groh worked at a women’s healthcare center and Legacy Meridian Park Hospital, where she obtained significant experience taking on the difficult job of helping to assist in childbirth as well as the family of the mother. According to her, she may have delivered some of your students, maybe you can go check your birth certificates sometimes. 

Groh also did less specialized, but important, medical care, taking care of patients in the ICU, giving them the necessary injections, IV solutions, medications, and setting up ventilators to help them recover. She says having a bachelor’s degree can help you do “almost anything” required in assisting a patient.

Fortunately, Groh doesn’t have to do these difficult tasks at Wilsonville, but that doesn’t mean that students don’t suffer serious problems, which she estimates happen about “once a month,” such as when: “Somebody stops breathing…hits their head…[their] heart stops…low blood sugar…seizures,” as well as “life-threatening allergies.” In this case, Groh manages the students while emergency services are arriving, the main role of a school nurse in serious incidents. 

Groh shares, “I love working with high school students and building relationships with family and staff. I got this job because I love the school setting, and it comes with an entire family of teachers.” Brining much joy into her office, Mrs. Groh expects to remain in the position as Wilsonville’s school nurse for as long as possible.