Michelle Shull
Position: Director of Nursing
School: USD 457 Garden City Public Schools
School District: USD 457 Garden City Public Schools
City, State: Garden City, KS
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Michelle Shull was nominated by her colleague, Glenda LaBarbera.
"LifeChanger - Michelle Shull. It sounds most appropriate," explains LaBarbera. "She makes a difference every day. As a nationally certified school nurse and RN, Michelle oversees the health services of our district. Garden City has approximately 7,300 students and 1,271 staff spread across 21 buildings. Our district is also a diverse community, with over 30 languages among staff and students. Michelle's job is challenging in a normal school year. When COVID hit, she and her staff went into overdrive."
Ms. Shull wrote new protocols and procedures for COVID cases, procured grants for PPE, and reconstructed a room in each of the buildings to act as an isolation room. She meets with the local health department weekly and maintains district data regarding COVID.
Ms. Shull strives to collaborate with the community, including the KS Dept. of Health and Environment (KDHE), St. Catherine's Hospital, Finney County Health Dept (FCHD), KS State Dept. of Education (KSDE), Shriners, and other grant affiliates. This past school year, the nursing department collaborated with these agencies and provided COVID vaccine clinics for staff and students, as well as a flu shot clinic for the community as a whole.
In January, Ms. Shull worked with KDHE so that the school district was able to perform COVID testing for staff and household members. This school year, the testing program has been made available to students with parent permission. In addition to vaccine clinics and COVID testing, the nursing department has participated in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and was awarded a grant from KDHE to combat childhood obesity.
Ms. Shull promotes this sense of community throughout the schools and her staff. Two students were referred and received services from the Shriners Hospital in St. Louis. The nursing staff arranged the appointments and worked out all of the flight details for the families, including transporting them to the airport. This past year, Ms. Shull and her staff also assisted 32 students with optometry vision screenings through the Lions Club. Two of the district nurses serve on the Kansas School Nurse Organization Board, taking that sense of service and community to the state level.
When considering the school atmosphere, and the level of performance, one only needs to look at the trainings and service offered through the department. Over 1,000 students had medical alerts throughout the school year, and another 1,000 staff were seen for medical reasons. The care and professionalism shown to them is second to none. Ms. Shull handles any emergency and/or concern that comes her way with a calm and caring attitude. She does this while planning the next First Aid and AED training, offering a staff nutrition education event, or administering Hepatitis B vaccines. In addition to her regular duties, Ms. Shull is always available to assist in a building if a nurse is absent.
"Michelle continues to provide care with high-quality standards. We are blessed to have her lead our nursing department," said LaBarbera.
Michelle - I appreciate your upbeat personality; your willingness to always stop and help someone no matter how busy you are, and your ability to always look and sound so professional! We are so lucky to have you on our team!
Your hard work and dedication is very much appreciated!
Congratulations on this nomination! We couldn’t do it without you, thanks for leading our nursing staff during these challenging times!
Michelle is such a knowledgeable and supportive resource for our students and staff. She is always trying to stay up to date with new information to keep our students and staff healthy and safe. So thankful we have her!
We couldn’t do it with our you!! Thank you for all the support and guidance! I couldn’t think of anyone better to receive this award.
There are no words to express how unbelievably wonderful Michelle is. She has such passion for helping take care of others, no matter what and where. I am blessed to have worked with her my first year at Abe Hubert. Congratulations and love you.
I have had the honor to work with Michelle at not only USD #457, but also at Garden Medical Clinic. She has always been a very caring and genuine nurse and co-worker. She has gone above and beyond to keep staff and students as healthy as possible during Covid. She is most deserving of this recognition. Congrats Michelle!
She fully supports her nursing staff with up to date information and protocols. And from what I hear, she is a great encouragement to her staff through these crazy times! As a parent, I am thankful that Michelle leads a dedicated team of health professionals who truly care about our kids!
This nomination is well deserved. Michelle works very hard to ensure our students and staff are healthy and safe - and she does it all with a positive attitude!
In the beginning of Covid there were so many unknowns and information that was released changed daily. I am grateful to Michelle for the effort she made to stay up to date and become knowledgeable in the procedures, precautions and best practices, that would keep our district students and staff safe. The selflessness she exhibited during the worst of times makes her a Lifechanger.
Big shout out !! Congratulations!! Michelle thank you for supporting our staff, students, and community during the tough time of COVID, and being easy to reach for questions or guidance. Your leadership is recognized by all of us!
You are a ROCK STAR !
Congratulations on this nomination! Thanks for all your help and support!
I've had the pleasure of working with Michelle prior to and in her current position.
Her professionalism and caring attitude is very commendable! She is well deserving of this Life Changer award!
Congratulations Michelle!!! Thank you for all you do!!!
Thanks Michelle! You have done a wonderful job navigating us through this past 2 years! I don't know what we would have done without you! Congratulations and thank you!
Michelle is amazing!!! She has helped so many of our students, families, and staff. So glad she is on our team supporting and there to support our community and schools!!!
Congratulations!!
Thanks for keeping us healthy!!
Michelle's leadership has been greatly appreciated in keeping our staff and students safe during the pandemic.
Michelle does her best to support students and families in our district. Congratulations Michelle and thank you for everything you do for our community!
Michelle is definitely one of the best, she has the biggest heart and is always putting our students and staff first!! When I worked with Michelle at Abe Hubert she would always go above and beyond not just in nursing but helping out any staff member that needed help, from covering classes so teachers could take a restroom break or helping in the front office. She is one in a million and is definitely a "Life Changer"!
Michelle has done a fantastic job leading the nurse's in our district these last two years with all the Covid news changing every day. As my supervisor, I have appreciated her leadership and her ability to stay calm when things aren't always calm in the buildings! Thanks, Michelle, for all you do! A well-deserved award for her!
Michelle truly deserves this honor! She considers the needs of staff and students alike and gives everything she can to ensure everyone's health needs are provided for. She is always willing to help others and does so with a smile. Michelle seeks out ways to access equipment or materials that are needed within the school and community and provides training to staff to help meet student needs and keep them safe. Congratulations Michelle!
Michelle has been a great leader for our district and the Garden City community. Her guidance and knowledge have been so valuable. Thank you Michelle for all that you do.
Michelle is a great a great resource for our district. She keeps our students, staff, and community well informed about health issues. We are very lucky to have her in our district, she is very deserving of this award!
Michelle has been a steady hand and decision maker for our school district through the Pandemic. She responds with sound guidance, support and empathy. We are fortunate to have her and appreciate all she does!
Thank you for all your extra tasks and of all of the over and above services you do for our district and leading your staff!
We Appreciate You and we are Proud of You!
Kim Bayer
Michelle is very deserving of the Life changer award!!
Congrats Michelle; you are so deserving of this award.
Michelle has been an incredible asset to our district and our community. Michelle has worked with our county health department as a liaison between the district and the county. Michelle and other nurses from our district worked in an off campus location to support our community by assisting in COVID-19 testing when our local resources were exhausted. Additionally, Michelle has continued to seek opportunities through grants that could assist in providing resources that keep the students and staff of USD 457 safe. You will not find someone that is more deserving that Michelle!!
Michelle has been a life changer to Buffalo Jones as she has worked hard to put a bilingual nurse and/or nurse assistant at Buffalo Jones because she understands the needs of our population.
She is also always there anytime we need her.
We appreciate your support so very much!
Michelle is truly deserving of this award as Ive had the pleasure of work with her at FCHD when she was a nurse administration. As a receptionist, I learned a lot from Michelle in her position and we worked together to improve workflows and offer the best care that we could to the community. She’s a great co-worker, leader, and genuine caring person. I admire her leadership and passion that she has for healthcare. I’m truly grateful to have learned the many thing I did during the time we worked together.
Congratulations Michelle! I am so appreciative for all you do for USD 457, LiveWell Finney County and our community! Thank you!
Thanks for all you do to keep us safe and healthy Michelle!
I have had the opportunity to work with Michelle in the past as well as the present and cannot think of a more deserving person for this honor. Her professionalism, care for others and calm response to every situation still amazes me. Congratulations Michelle. You have earned every honor!
You are awesome, Michelle!
Last year I served as the Board President for USD-457. To say that last year was an unusual year for our district is putting it mildly. I truly appreciated the guidance that she provided our superintendent, board and various committees as we went through everything with Covid. I cannot express enough how much I appreciated the insight that she gave to us. Our Covid re-opening plan was truly community and committee driven and her assistance was vital to that plan. I hope that you give Ms. Shull the utmost consideration in this. Thank you Michelle for all that you have done and continue to do for our district!
Michelle is a great leader! She keeps our team focused and working as a cohesive unit. She definitely deserves LifeChanger of the Year!!
As a nurse for USD 457, Ms Shull is my director. She is a tremendous leader and has fostered a relationship between the school nursing department and our community. We are fortunate to have her expertise and guidance through these ever changing and challenging times of this pandemic.
