From caring for newborns in the NICU at Duke University to guiding students through the chaos of the pandemic, Laura’s career has always revolved around making things better for the people in her care. Now, she’s using that same focus to improve the tools school nurses rely on every day. With her deep understanding of what nurses need, Laura plays an essential role in shaping the August Schools platform to truly support those on the front lines of student health.

"I never thought I’d be working for a software company," Laura laughs, reflecting on her unexpected transition. "Going from working with teeny tiny 400 gram babies to now working at a software company has been a total shift. But I feel like I’m using my nursing skills—just in a completely different way."

Laura always wanted to be a nurse. "I knew at 10 years old that I wanted to be a neonatal nurse," she shared. "And I got my dream job! I loved every minute of it, but then I had twins, and the 12-hour shifts just weren’t working." She transitioned to a pediatric office so she could spend more time with her family. When her kids were older and started attending the local private school, she volunteered in the school clinic. Soon after, the school offered her a part-time school nurse role. "It was the perfect schedule. I would be working while my kids were at school."

Working as a School Nurse at Christian Academy of Knoxville

She started her new role just as COVID hit. "I had to write all the protocols for bringing students back into the building safely. It was supposed to be a part-time job, but I was working 90-hour weeks." Laura revamped the school’s health protocol and convinced the administration to adopt an electronic health record (EHR) platform. "We were using Google Sheets to track everything," she recalled. "I knew that wasn’t sustainable, especially with COVID." 

Laura led the search for a better system, eventually choosing August Schools because it checked all of her boxes. August was flexible, documentation was simple, and it met the needs of both the health and counseling teams.

Laura loved how easy August made things, from charting to communicating with parents. Laura remembers working with a student who had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. “Since she was a new diabetic, her orders were changing on a monthly basis. So instead of her mom having to come into school or fax the order over, she was able to quickly take pictures of the new diabetic orders on her phone and upload them in the portal and send them to us. We were able to look at them right away.” 

She immediately saw how powerful August could be. As she was working in the platform, she would often think of ways to make it even better. "I remember thinking, ‘If only we could add this feature, it would be a game changer.’ And my colleague would say, ‘Why don’t you just tell them that?’"

She sent Pete, the CEO of August Schools, an email with her thoughts and ideas about August and her experience using it as a school nurse. After the chaos of the pandemic, Laura was ready to take a step back from school nursing and spend more time with her family. That email she sent to Pete opened the door to a new role at August, where Laura now uses her experience as a school nurse to help build the best possible platform for other nurses. 

One of her first major projects came out of a training session she attended for public school nurses. "I realized we didn’t have all the features they needed—like the ability to document trach care and G-tubes. I thought, ‘We have to add this.’ So I went straight to Pete, and that was the start of building out recurring treatments in the platform."

Laura is someone who rolls her sleeves up and gets stuff done. "I truly love what I’m doing now. I hate just sitting and watching if I can just do it myself, so I’ve taught myself things like YAML coding to be able to build new encounters for schools or change things in the platform so it’s the way schools want it.”

Looking ahead, Laura is excited about how data will shape the future of school health. "What I’ve learned is that if you start with the right data points, it’s so much easier to get meaningful reports at the end of the year," she said. "I love the fact that we’re making it easier for schools to get the data they need."

Laura’s journey comes full circle—what started as a desire to help people as a nurse has evolved into helping nurses by building tools that make their jobs easier. At August Schools, her lived experience as a school nurse ensures that the platform continues to grow in ways that truly support the health teams using it every day.