Every day, anywhere between thirty and fifty students visit the health office for a multitude of reasons, ranging from headaches to allergies. Pamela Lucero, the Health Services Assistant, runs the health office and supports these students.
“I love working with the teenagers. They’re really fun. And I like everybody in the front office, all the people I work with… I just found this is where I belong,” said Lucero.
Clinics and classrooms
Before becoming the Health Services Assistant at Amador, Lucero held various positions in various healthcare settings. She worked at Kaiser, taught weight management classes, worked at Sunnyvale Medical Clinic, and held many other positions.
“I worked in quite a few different positions. I worked with some cardiac doctors as a dietitian there. I worked at Kaiser. I taught classes in cholesterol and weight management for patients. I worked at San Jose State in student health, seeing students… I worked at Sunnyvale Medical Clinic in an obesity program. I had lots of different dietitian jobs,” said Lucero.
Lucero appreciates the contrast between the sterility of her former clinical environments and the energy of a school campus. She enjoys working at schools because they are very dynamic and unpredictable environments.
“Being a dietitian, I always felt like I wasn’t part of an office group and it was much more of an isolating job, whereas now I love working with the students and the other staff to be part of a team,” said Lucero.
A healthy change of pace
She uses her knowledge of health conditions such as diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis to support students who manage these illnesses on campus.
“Some kids have medication in here for ADHD or anxiety meds, or chronic migraines. I also hold all the medications, such as EpiPens and inhalers. And if there’s ever an emergency on campus, I would be the person who would administer that,” said Lucero.
Still, she doesn’t work alone to support students. While she meets with students daily, another team behind the scenes plans and offers long-term support.
“I work really closely with our district nurse, and we kind of complement each other on the job. I’m kind of the face of the health office, but our district nurse does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of being part of medical IEP meetings and creating care plans and doing those kinds of jobs,” said Lucero.
Lucero helps all students who come through the office, no matter their situation. She tries her best to create a welcoming, calming atmosphere in the office, where students feel comfortable getting medical help or just taking a short break.
“I think students have a lot of stress and a lot of different pressures in all different directions, so I think they deserve to have somebody at school that’s always gonna be nice,” said Lucero.
