Your child’s health and well-being is my number priority and the 24/7 responsibility of the Nursing and Health Services program. It is our charge to ensure that each student’s overall and specific health needs are identified, communicated, and met as an essential component of our relationship-based therapy. We are fortunate to be in a community where we have access to many experts, state of the art medical facilities, and established collaborative partnerships with medical providers and specialists in Massachusetts and New York. This gives us the ability to manage students with complex health needs such as childhood onset diabetes, seizure disorders, immune disorders, chronic respiratory conditions, and congenital cardiac anomalies. What sets us apart in our Health Services program is that we are able to keep students in program while managing their health care needs, not the other way around.
Under the direction of a registered nurse and my supervision, all staff receives specialized training on the health needs of individual students, annual medication and health program training on how to communicate pertinent information, and demonstrate first aid techniques and policies to ensure that all staff are aware of school health issues and know how to respond in an emergency.
We practice from a collaborative health model within the treatment team and in collaboration with you the parent/guardian, your child and our medical consultants. Managing medication therapy, monitoring for side effects, evaluating medication effectiveness, and teaching staff is a large part of the work the nurses do. In addition, we recognize that the role of medications in a residential treatment setting may be different from management of medications in the community and require a specialized team approach. We try to maximize the effectiveness of psychotropic medications by recognizing it as a means to an end – that is to allow the student to participate in treatment as fully as possible, for interpersonal growth to occur. The use and evaluation of medication therapy is an on-going process; there may be other medications, or combination of medications that may work better, and less medication may be needed over time.
Health and well-being is not only a task focused on one child at a time, but also focuses on the health and well-being of the entire community. We are diligent about individual child hygiene and community hygiene to prevent and manage the spread of infectious diseases. Hand washing and respiratory hygiene are taught to all students, and infection control techniques are incorporated in everyday activities. It is my goal to maximize not only your child’s health, but everyone’s well-being in the doing.
Dr. Margo Drohan
Director of Nursing
Learn more about Kolburne’s Health, Wellness, Nursing, and Medical programs and services:
Nursing Services
The Nursing Office is located on the Woodruff Campus in Burritt Hall and staffed by Licensed Nurses every day from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Satellite health offices are located in the group residences. Nurses schedule routine weekly visits to the group residences and as needed, and a Nurse is always on call for any need from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.
The Nursing staff is responsible for administering, monitoring and supervising medication administration, addressing health concerns, providing first aid, and coordinating routine and complex healthcare services with appropriate community service providers and regional specialists, as needed. The Nursing staff also works closely with each student’s Inter-Disciplinary Treatment Team to address health and medication issues.
Although Kolburne is located in a rural part of Massachusetts, the Berkshires are well known for community-based health services, highly skilled specialists and hospitals. Emergency medical needs and unique medical conditions are supported by such nationally-acclaimed local and regional hospitals as Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Bay State Hospital in Springfield, MA, Shriner’s Hospital in Boston, and Albany Medical Center in New York.
Health & Wellness
At the heart of Kolburne’s Health and Wellness Program is routine health maintenance. Our Nursing Staff regularly assess your child’s diet and nutrition; make sure he/she gets routine vision, hearing, dental, and medical check-ups; and arrange for other muscular-skeletal screenings, medical tests and check-ups, as needed.
Diet is another important component of our Program. We believe in eating healthy, serving well-balanced meals and supporting the dietary needs of our students. Many of our students are on special diets. Our Food Services Manager and the Nursing Staff regularly coordinate to support students with gluten-free, vegetarian, low-fat, and religious diets. To empower our students to take ownership of their diets and healthy lifestyle once they leave Kolburne, Life Skills units focus on such topics as the food pyramid and the importance of good nutrition and exercise, and students learn how to shop for and prepare healthy foods.
Kolburne also promotes a healthy lifestyle and keeps students active with a focus on recreational and physical education activities built into both the academic and residential program areas. Kolburne’s 800-acre campus features sports fields, playgrounds, tennis courts, hiking trails, an indoor swimming pool; a nearby lake provides exercise and activities in the form of boating, swimming, and ice skating; students learn to ski at nearby ski resorts; and a healthy walk can always be fit in during the day as students walk the campus to go to their different program areas.