During the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare workers have become an even more important and crucial part of American society. They risk their lives daily in order to keep the American population safe, and Perry campus is lucky to have a health office filled with those who work to keep the school campus as safe as possible. 

Nurse Juleen Barth has been a part of the faculty since 2007 and previously worked at Banner Desert Medical Center. She has one health assistant who has worked at other Chandler Unified schools in the office with her. 

Surprisingly the health office has had “less traffic” in comparison to the previous years, but Barth says they have “more phone calls, reporting cases and advising of exposures, etc.” 

The health office is working non-stop to help students get sent home, if they display any COVID symptoms, to help limit exposure to possible coronavirus cases, on top of assisting students with non-COVID related issues, making Barth a crucial part of Perry’s faculty. 

Barth and the health office work daily to report COVID cases to the Maricopa County Health Department, in order to keep the entire community, on campus and off, as safe, and informed as possible. She is in charge of giving information to students, parents, and staff, and she says, “It has been going well.”

Barth said that “returning in person has been going great” and that she enjoys “working with the students”. Inside the health office, the staff have COVID guidelines and procedures to follow, given to them from CUSD and MCHD.

Bath is involved with multiple policies on a daily basis. 

In order to gain access to the health office, one must check in with the security guard at the entrance to the administration building. This checkpoint helps to prevent excessive non-essential traffic into the health office. 

Students who are displaying COVID symptoms are encouraged to go see Barth in the health office in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

Any student who visits her office must be wearing a mask correctly, covering the nose and mouth, and social distancing is required within her office area. She has placed plastic partitions between students and staff in order to prevent the transmission of coronavirus within her office. Barth says “students are very compliant with their masks” within the health office but that she has not had the opportunity to observe students outside the office.

Students who have coronavirus symptoms are sent home and are required to stay home until a negative test is sent to Barth, or a doctor’s note is provided stating that symptoms are not COVID related. The students that are sent home are recommended to keep up with classwork through online school until they are able to safely return to school. 

Barth dedicates a lot of her time to keeping campus as safe as possible, and said that “our students have been doing a great job with the covid guidelines” and recommends that students continue following the guidelines, including wearing masks and following “good handwashing practices.”