Academy Nurse Goes the Extra Mile
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
”
‘Going the extra mile’ isn’t easy. Especially when you have five children under the age of nine. But that doesn’t stop Amanda Aaseby. She is a powerhouse of service, constantly giving her time and energy to help others, most often behind the scenes. Why? Because she loves God, she loves people, and she loves meeting needs.
Amanda teaches a first aid class to middle schoolers at the Academy for G.O.D.
By profession, Amanda is a Registered Nurse. Currently, she is the School Nurse for the Academy for G.O.D. She works during school 20 hours every week (and more hours on her own time) to respond to the healthcare needs of students at the Academy. Regarding her job, she says, “I do what I do because I love the students. I want them to feel taken care of and safe. The Academy needs someone on-site who knows how to respond when health needs arise, which many people lack experience in. I don’t. I’ve been training for this since I was a teenager.”
At 15 years old, Amanda was a certified lifeguard, and from 16-18 years of age, she worked as a nurse aid in a nursing home. Following high school, she attended Aquinas College in Nashville, TN, where she received her Nursing degree in 2007. That same year, she began working at Southern Hills Medical Center, first as a post-operative nurse for 9 months, then in the Emergency Room for two years. Then, from 2010-2015, she worked in the Emergency Room at Summit Medical Center.
Amanda says that working in the ER equipped her with triage skills, the ability to ask the right questions, to find out not just what’s going on, but what it might be stemming from, or what’s triggering it. Hands-on, real world experience has given her confidence in her work, enhancing her calling from the Lord to serve people’s healthcare needs that she’s felt since high school.
But, Amanda also recognizes the important role that her biblical education plays as a health care provider, especially in the private school setting. She says, “Knowing the Lord, I’m able to provide something outside of the science and logic that the hospital setting limited me to. I have more to offer children than what I’ve experienced, what I know, what I’ve seen, what I’ve read about. What I’ve learned from the Bible has immensely sharpened my confidence, so that I can give students something rooted in the Lord. All of the students here are learning the Bible in their classes. So when they come to me not well, I have the opportunity to talk to them about how to understand themselves, how God made their hearts and minds and bodies connected. Are they experiencing something physical? Did their ill health begin in their minds? We get to have healthy conversations and times of prayer.”
What do the students have to say about Amanda? “She is always there for us and she knows what we should do and why we should do it!” “She is a very good nurse and she helps us and cares for us. She is very loving.” She is really sweet. She is actually concerned with you, and she is so nice.” “She takes care of you instead of saying, ‘Just sit over there!’ She lets you lay down, she is concerned with you and she is very kind.” “She is the best!” “She is a good nurse!”
Amanda’s job description includes a variety of responsibilities. She creates and implements policies and protocols pertaining to the health and safety of students and staff. She performs yearly health screenings, vision screening, testing for scoliosis, colorblindness, and taking vital signs, height, weight, and body mass index. She writes a health update for the weekly school newsletters for teachers and parents. She meets with each class school-wide to provide education on health topics monthly, such as seat belt safety, nutrition, and the importance of physical activity. She keeps all medical kits and the eyewash station on campus fully stocked. She creates individual health plans for students with chronic health problems such as asthma or allergies, and educates the teachers of those students on their health needs. She trains the faculty and staff in Basic Life Support, and teaches a CPR and first aid course to middle schoolers. She makes cleaning supplies without chemicals for the classrooms. She takes extra care to make sure families are educated and children are healthy.
Amanda assesses the health of our East African cooperatives in Uganda. She knows that it's not just important for students to be healthy, but their teachers too!
Additionally, Amanda serves in leadership on G.O.D. Intl’s East Africa team. In October, Amanda traveled to our East Africa headquarters to help educate the community there. She performed health assessments on all of our cooperatives, their children, and the Institute students. She taught health seminars on hygiene, first aid, and how to avoid the spread of sickness, which included how to tell if someone is contagious or not and when to quarantine an individual, and how to assess healthcare needs they encounter, at home and in the workplace.
Amanda is invaluable to the work we are doing as an organization, both here and abroad. She is committed to the Lord, and to doing the things she’s equipped to do, in his name. She is a servant to all those who know her, driven by great love for people and meeting their needs, an outpouring of her thankfulness to God for such a great calling.
