Nurse Carrie’s Home Health Room Videos

Video #7 – School Year Finale

Check out the “finale” of Nurse Carrie and her student puppets as they talk about how to be safe and healthy and also have fun this summer.

I pay a special tribute at the end to our 5th grade graduates who started as kindergartners my first year at Underwood 6 years ago.

Thank you all for your positive feedback and support of these videos. I hope to make more in the future. I don’t know what school will look like in September but I am crossing my fingers that we will be able to be safely together in some capacity.

Please reach out to me anytime if you have any questions, concerns or just want to give me updates about your kids. I will be checking my email semi-regularly and would love to hear from you.

Have a safe, healthy, and peaceful summer.

~Nurse Carrie

Take Care of Yourself, Take Care of Others

Hello Underwood parents/guardians,

This letter is from Deb Youngblood, the Newton Health Commissioner. It is a list of mental health and substance abuse resources for families.

Have a safe, healthy and peaceful week. ~Nurse Carrie

Video #6 – Appreciation and Activities

In this week’s Tabletop Video (#6) Nurse Carrie talks about “appreciation” during Teacher and Nurse Appreciation week and the puppets share activities they enjoy to give students new creative ideas. It ends with a unique (rough around the edges) thank you to teachers and a tribute to moms.

On another note, I want to say how much I love making these videos and am so thrilled when I hear that the kids and families enjoy them. As much as I would love to continue to create weekly Tabletop Videos, I will need to take a pause in order to attend to other remote school nurse responsibilities. I plan to make a couple of more videos before the school year ends and will send an email notification as soon as the next one is complete.

In the meantime, please encourage your kids to write and mail letters to any or all of the puppets and they will write back and include a coloring page.

Address is Nurse Carrie Gately, 316 Franklin St. Newton, MA 02458.

May 4, 2020 – Nurse Call Hours

Hello to My Wonderful Underwood Families.

The Health and Human Services Dept is sending this letter to let you know that I will have “call hours” from 9-12 Tuesdays and Fridays. Please read the letter for details but know that I am available beyond those hours to give you a call back if you request it – we will work out a time that is convenient for you.

Thanks so much and I look forward to talking with you.

~Nurse Carrie

Video #5 with Peggy Pig

Join Nurse Carrie and Peggy Pig this week. In today’s Tabletop Video, Nurse Carrie teaches first aid when Peggy Pig hurts her arm; Peety learns about X-Ray technology, and at the end I suggest students write to my puppets and they will write back.

As I mention in the video, students can mail a letter to any of the puppet friends to:
Nurse Carrie Gately, 316 Franklin St., Newton, MA 02458

The puppets will write them back :). After you watch the video, feel free to email Nurse Carrie and tell her what you liked about it. Please send any ideas for other health topics you would like to learn about.

Video #4 with Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog, Peggy Pig and Eddie Eagle 

Join Nurse Carrie, Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog, Peggy Pig, and Eddie Eagle this week. In this episode, Nurse Carrie talks about their unique traits and shares something unique about being human. The video ends with a few great jokes with Nurse Carrie’s puppet helpers!

After you watch the video, feel free to email Nurse Carrie and tell her what you liked about it. Please send any ideas for other health topics you would like to learn about. We hope you enjoy learning from Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog, Peggy Pig, and Eddie Eagle this week :).

Video #3 with Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog and Peggy Pig – Learn about Cavities

Join Nurse Carrie, Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog and Peggy Pig this week. In this episode, Nurse Carrie will give us a white board lesson on cavities and you and your student can take a fun quiz with Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog and Peggy Pig. The video ends with a catchy song performed by Nurse Carrie’s puppet helpers!

After you watch the video, feel free to email Nurse Carrie and tell her what you liked about it. Please send any ideas for other health topics you would like to learn about. We hope you enjoy learning from Peety Pup, Harriet Hedgehog, and Peggy Pig this week :). 

Video #2 with Peety Pup and Harriet Hedgehog

Join Nurse Carrie and Peety Pup this week and find out how to help Harriet Hedgehog who is upset. In this week’s episode, you and your student will learn about the feeling “worry” and will be able to answer the following questions: 

  1. When we are worried or upset about something, we often feel sick in what part of our body?
  2. What is one way to help our body and brain relax?
  3. Is it okay and normal to feel worried?

After you watch the video, feel free to email Nurse Carrie and tell her what you liked about it. Please send any ideas for other health topics you would like to learn about. We hope you enjoy learning from Peety Pup and Harriet Hedgehog this week :). 

Video #1: Nurse Carrie takes care of Peety Pup

Announcing Nurse Carrie’s Home Health Room Videos. To stay connected, Nurse Carrie will make a video every Friday and send it to you. The videos will also be updated on this website and posted on Facebook. Each video will take place on Nurse Carrie’s tabletop Home Health Room. She will teach a mini health lesson while taking care of a student puppet.

Video #1: Nurse Carrie takes care of Peety Pup. Join Nurse Carrie this week as she takes care of the student puppet “Peety Pup”. Through this skit, Nurse Carrie and Peety Pup will answer the following questions:

  1. What number on the thermometer means that you have a fever?
  2. Why do kids sometimes get fevers?
  3. How can you help your body when you have a fever?

After you watch the video, feel free to email Nurse Carrie and tell her what you liked about it. Please send any ideas for other health topics you would like to learn about. We hope you enjoy learning from Peety Pup :). 

HELLO FROM NURSE CARRIE – March 20th

Dear Underwood Families,

Usually I like to say “Greetings from the Underwood Health Room!” but now I will say, “Greetings from my house to yours!”

I hope you are all staying healthy and finding ways to keep busy and productive as you navigate a “new normal.”  As we all know, kids will feel okay if they feel their caregivers are okay so it is important to be positive and reassure them that things will get back to normal eventually.

Please tell your kids that Nurse Carrie says, “Hi… I miss you all!”  Tell them that I want them to wash their hands (using soap and water and scrubbing for 20 seconds) every time they come in from being outside the house and every time they eat or use the bathroom?.  Tell them I suggest they play cards and board games, to draw, build a tent with blankets and furniture, create something out of an old box, make sock puppets, and go outside for a walk (but stay 6 feet apart from people outside their family). And of course, read:)

I want to emphasize that it is important to take social distancing seriously to stop the spread of this virus.  The public health doctors are very clear that every single small social contact helps perpetuate this virus exponentially and every single small avoided social contact helps stymie it exponentially.

This article by Asaf Bitton, a doctor and public health expert, explains it very well: 

Also if you go to the Newton Health and Human Services website, they have an amazing Covid- 19 FAQ section at the bottom of the home page which they update frequently: 

If students want to contact me by email please tell them to write and I will write them back. I will be checking my email every day: gatelyca@newton.k12.ma.us.

Parents, feel free to reach out by email with any questions or concerns. You can tell me a time that is convenient to call you and I will call you back.

Thank you for all you are doing to care for your kids and for each other. We are all in this together and need to stay upbeat, kind, patient, and united.

Love,

Nurse Carrie