Oral history interview with Ellen Gnaedinger

Oral history interview with Ellen Gnaedinger

Ellen Gnaedinger, DNP, APRN, discusses both the rural pediatric primary care office where she worked in Royalton, Vermont, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and her transition to a school nurse role in summer 2021. She describes modifications enacted to minimize the potential transmission of COVID in the early days and weeks of the pandemic, including use of shower curtains to separate areas and seeing children outside in cars. She also speaks about how added duties and uncertainty related to COVID made both providing primary care and the school nurse role more time-consuming and physically and emotionally draining. Other topics include the addition of contact tracing to the school nurse's role, the daily use of resources such as zoom calls with state leadership and health experts, and the need for a national system to promote equitable communication.

Ellen Gnaedinger started employment as a pediatric nurse practitioner at South Royalton Health Center in Royalton, Vermont, in 2018. She transitioned to a school nurse role in 2021 and was a member of the Vermont School Nurse Association at the time of this interview.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2024-02-09

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-028

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Bosek, Marcia Sue DeWolf

Gnaedinger, Ellen

55 min., 49 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215