Not all heroes wear capes. Four women are in charge of making sure everyone at Huntley High School is kept healthy. These women are Donna Kunz, Lindsie Teson, Ellen Ronzia and Melissa Gulley. 

“I don’t think people realize that we are actually doing two jobs,” said Kunz, “We have our regular nursing jobs. Including seeing all the students with injuries or illnesses, medications, diabetics, people with seizures, people who faint, but then we are also doing contact tracing and speaking to parents about COVID-19.”

The nurses in our building are working overtime to do their best to keep all the students of HHS safe. They, in collaboration with the McHenry County Health Department, are in charge of contact tracing. They have to contact family and reach out to students who may have been exposed. However, they can only do so much.

“It is really the responsibility of the student or the teacher for their personal safety. They have to enforce the mitigations for themselves. The mitigations are physically distancing and wearing your mask right,” said Kunz.

“Wearing masks properly is huge too. That could be the difference between quarantining or not. Because some of these classrooms are three feet apart, which they should be, but if their masks aren’t worn appropriately then they have to be quarantined,” said Teson.

Calling in sick to school is not just open and shut. When you call in sick you are told to leave any symptoms you are having in your message to the school. If your symptoms match up with any of the COVID-19 symptoms, you will receive a call from your nurse to follow up. 

It is recommended that you get a COVID-19 test within 24 hours to ensure whether or not you have the virus. This means that if you have siblings, they do not have to stay home from school. 

On the other hand, if you choose not to get tested, your siblings would have to stay home for 10 days.

These nurses are doing more than we realize. They are fighting to keep us safe. 

“It’s not like it used to be,” said Ronzia, “It’s a lot.”