Bradley

Samantha Bradley
9/22/2017
Lyle Torrant – Paw Pride™
During the very first week of Family Nursing II, the Lyle Torrant clinical was briefly
introduced to us; I was immediately intimidated. My Aunt is an Early Childhood Special
Education teacher for preschool in Hillsdale County and often has meetings at the Lyle Torrant
building, so I’ve heard bits and pieces of how incredibly medically fragile these students are
that attend to this school. These were the exact words that come out of my mouth after
listening to her stories, “I don’t think I could ever work there. That’s too much pressure, I would
be so scared to even move a muscle.” When the assignment was announced, I knew I was going
to have to hype myself up for this adventure. Fortunately, I live by the verse Psalms 46:5, “God
is within, she will not fail” and didn’t let anxiety keep me from an awe-inspiring clinical
experience.
After getting over the initial jitters and culture shock, I took a deep breath and got
comfortable before the children arrived to my assigned classroom. As the five sweet little guys
started entering the room, I fell in love. My nursing mind immediately went to assessing them
as I helped them get ready for our field trip to Ella Sharp.
The primary diagnosis in all the children was cerebral palsy (CP); from my perspective, 4
out of the 5 children seemed to have dyskinetic CP. Contrary to what most people believe,
cerebral palsy is not caused by musculoskeletal dysfunction. Although the muscles are affected,
it’s caused by damage to part of the brain that controls muscle movements. Most children are
diagnosed before the age of three when the child may be failing to reach developmental goals.
This diagnosis presents itself with a variety of signs such as poor muscle control that may impair
Samantha Bradley
9/22/2017
swallowing, speech, balance and motor function, etc. There are numerous comorbidities with
CP; the goal when treating these delicate individuals, is to reach their greatest potential.
Helping their children reach their greatest potential is exactly what I witnessed at Lyle
Torrant. In the classroom, there were three pairs of tender, caring, valuable hands – the
teacher, a paraprofessional, and an LPN; each so eager to welcome me and have some help
with their students. The day I was visiting happened to be a field trip day, which meant we had
a time schedule to complete the morning routine and catch the bus to Ella Sharp! Not even the
slightest sense of stress from any of the adults was portrayed about the time crunch and they
made all tasks an elegant flow. Honestly, I thought I was in a fantasy world where nothing goes
wrong. As I began to help take off these precious children’s coats, the teacher began to let
some of the children that were semi-mobile crawl around and play with the toys available (all
made accessible for their specific needs), the paraprofessional was helping one of the little boys
with range of motion exercises, and the LPN was zooming around hydrating and feeding each
child so effortlessly. I was able to help hydrate one of the children, with the LPN by my side.
When the little guy looked up at me with his big chestnut colored eyes, it seemed he was trying
to thank me for caring for him. Every student was treated just as a normal first grader would be,
that was evident to me when we arrived at Ella Sharp. There were four different stations – the
general store, Ella’s home, the school house, and a cooking and baking station. Although these
children have impairments, they were treated normally. They could buy items at the store, help
do laundry in Ella’s home, write on chalkboards at school, and help churn butter with the help
of myself, the teacher, LPN, and paraprofessional.

Samantha Bradley
9/22/2017
Children with chronic illnesses and neurological alterations tend to be perceived
differently in the school environment and community and rarely do schools have a nurse
available to contact. The National Association of School Nurses states, “The special needs of
students with chronic health conditions are complex and continuous. The school nurse has a
pivotal role in interpreting a student’s health status, explaining the health impairment to the
school team, providing assessment, direct care, coordination and evaluation of care, advocating
for appropriate accommodations in the educational setting,” (2017, July 28) etc. From my
observations, the nurse at Lyle Torrant have achieved these goals and legal responsibilities.
Guiding me and allowing me to care for the children under her license, although I have been
trained in nasogastric tube feedings, has helped me gain a little more experience than what I
had prior to coming to Lyle Torrant. As the LPN enlightened me on the specific way this
particular child liked to be fed, I realized that’s exactly how I need to advocate for my future
patients as well; Making sure they have care that is specifically for them, not generalized.
MEMBER OF PROFESSION
Overall my experience at Lyle Torrant was unforgettable, truly indescribable. As we
were walking down the hallway, every single person had a smile and stopped to interact with
each student and called them by their name. I’ve never seen such passion in staff members in
any other community. These employees have become an inspiration to me, I loved my time at
there so much, I’m currently in the process of becoming a volunteer!

Samantha Bradley
9/22/2017
Works Cited
Definition of Cerebral Palsy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from
http://www.cerebralpalsy.org/about-cerebral-palsy/definition.
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child: Implications for 21st Century School Nurses
(Adopted June 2017). (2017, July 28). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from
https://schoolnursenet.nasn.org/blogs/nasn-profile/2017/07/28/whole-school-whole-
community-whole-child.
Samantha, this paper is simply a joy to read. It is at an advanced level of presentation

and your way of writing helps the reader to visualize your message within the work
throughout the entire paper. I can honestly say this is one of the very best submissions I’ve
received related to this clinical event.
One urban legend I must clarify … I will bring it up with the class too, because it is such
a common misperception of licensure. We do not work off any other nurses’ license in any
clinical environment we attend. The college purchases practice insurance for each of you and
you work under a student license. If you make a mistake while caring for the child your
faculty, teacher, the LPN in this case is not liable by licensure for your error. This is a HUGE
urban legend though that’s been around as long as I’ve been an RN!! ☺
Samantha Bradley
9/22/2017
Fantastic work Samantha. Thank you for taking such amazing care of the children at the
school this week. I’m so touched that it moved you so much to act and volunteer. This will be
an awesome asset of clinical experience for you to gain prior to graduation. It makes me so
proud to have such professional students representing our nursing program. Awesome Job!!

Bradley

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Samantha Bradley

Lyle Torrant – Paw Pride™

introduced to us; I was immediately intimidated. My Aunt is an Early Childhood Special

of myself, the teacher, LPN, and paraprofessional.

Children with chronic illnesses and neurological alterations tend to be perceived

Overall my experience at Lyle Torrant was unforgettable, truly indescribable. As we

there so much, I’m currently in the process of becoming a volunteer!

Definition of Cerebral Palsy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from

Samantha, this paper is simply a joy to read. It is at an advanced level of presentation

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