She takes their blood. She pokes them with needles. She insists they say “ah” as they choke on tongue depressors. And yet, she manages to make everything a little better.
Ever since arriving on campus as head nurse in 1992, Jane Reno-Munro has done everything in her power to make students feel their best – even when they come into the clinic feeling their absolute worst.
“I love the students. I always say that every semester I have 11,000 kids, because I care for each one of them,” explains Reno-Munro, director of Student Health Services, a nurse practitioner who – in addition to administrative tasks like balancing the budget – still tends to patients on a daily basis. “Students come first. They’re the reason we’re here. We just want to keep them safe and healthy.”
And part of that, she points out, is teaching them how to take charge of their health.
“We should take every opportunity to talk to our students about healthy lifestyle choices,” she says, adding that – because parents often oversee their children’s healthcare through high school – many students have never even called a doctor’s office before. “It’s important for them to figure it out – and it’s rewarding to see them go from teenagers to savvy young adults.”
And, of course, the savvier they are, the healthier they are … and the less likely to be tapped on the knee with Reno-Munro’s little reflex hammer.
