A new nurse manager for the district
The ARPS district has a new nurse manager this year, Sonia Jaworski, who can be found in the ARHS nurse’s office. Jaworski joined the school after two nurses retired last year, Robbin Suprenant and Mary O’Brien, who worked together for over a decade.
In addition to administering medications and ensuring all students’ immunizations are up to date, Jaworski has a variety of responsibilities throughout the school day. She typically starts her day by checking all of the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) machines in the building to make sure they are functional and that the alarms are set in the AED containers/cases.
She also helps students by administering medication that many take at school each day. To do this she has to get a provider’s order and parents’ consent. “If a student has a condition requiring special accommodations or constraints, we must construct the best care plan specifically for treating that particular student,” said Jaworski.
In addition to these daily tasks, nurses help support students who suddenly feel ill, get hurt, or need support during the school day. Many students come in with cold symptoms such as sore throats, so the nurse offers them to gargle salt water. She also provides fluids to drink and a place to rest if needed and takes students’ temperatures in case of a fever.
School nurses do all sorts of emergency first aid from cleaning up cuts and wounds, giving bandages, or responding to public health emergencies such as students having seizures or administering an epi-pen due to an allergic reaction.
Jaworski also trains nurses (or teachers) in how to administer an epi-pen for allergic reactions. She is on call all day by phone and carries a walkie-talkie radio to respond to emergencies.
When not seeing students, she coordinates care between parents, providers, and her. If students who have special conditions are being transported to school on a van, she has to coordinate with transportation to make sure this is accommodated. She also has to train the transportation people for any possible emergency scenario when in the vans with drivers, if a nurse is not present.
As the nurse manager for the district, Jaworski is also responsible for all of the nursing staff in the elementary schools in Amherst, plus Pelham, ARMS, and ARHS. By working with them, she ensures “all the students are safe and healthy.”
An average day at ARHS for Jaworski consists of answering questions from nurses if they “need clarification on a procedure, policy, or a solution that might be arising.” She also takes time to do a lot of outreach to the community including to the fire department, collaborating with them to provide services to our school.
Jaworski studied nursing at American International College (AIC) in Springfield, getting her bachelor’s degree in 2009. She worked as an RN and then decided to go back to get her master’s degree as a nurse educator in May of 2024, from Southern New Hampshire University.
She grew up in Ludlow about 30 minutes from Amherst, graduating from Ludlow High School in 1993. After earning her degree she worked for Ludlow for 14 years as a nurse.
Jaworski is a single mom with two sons, and she has a variety of friends from different backgrounds. ‘I get together with my friends from my prior district a lot,” said Jaworski “I’m also trying to join a book club.”
In Jaworski’s free time, she likes to take her dog Molly for walks. “She’s very naughty,” joked Jaworski, noting that she is a rescue dog from Texas who is “a mix of everything.” She also enjoys spending time with her 22-year-old and 19-year-old sons, both in college, one at HCC and the other at UMass.
Jaworski is excited to be at ARHS, citing its diversity, the supportive staff, the students, and the “opportunity to help promote health and wellness in the district” as huge benefits to her work.
