Brown Middle School nurse named top school nurse in Texas

An El Paso woman has been named the top school nurse in the entire state of Texas.

Miriam Carmichael is the third El Paso ISD school nurse to receive the statewide honor since the state recognition began in 2003.

“Sometimes, my office is like a mini emergency room,” said Carmichael, the nurse at Brown Middle School, “I’m dealing with broken bones, dislocated knees, severe allergic reactions, a kid who’s diabetic, certainly sick kids, injured kids, and kids with chronic problems.”

Carmichael told ABC-7 she is always busy and her job is unpredictable and very interesting, never boring. Even though Carmichael was recognized as the school nurse of the year at EPISD and Region 19, she was surprised to be named the top school nurse in the state.

“We have to meet a lot of criteria and standards of excellence. I feel I’m just representing all the great nurses in our region. There are a lot of great nurses, so I feel like I’m just representing them and our school and I’m proud of that,” she said.

Carmichael said she does more than just pass out medication and band-aids to children at school. She also helps them with various problems in their lives.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of different things, like organizing teachers and trying to be a role model for healthy living. I eat my big salad and I talk about a healthy lifestyle for the kids,” the nurse said.

Carmichael also helps train nursing students at the El Paso medical school affiliated with Texas Tech and and UTEP.

“I always just love to see how completely shocked they are to see how busy school nurses can be,” Carmichael said, “The variety things we do and how crazy it can be and they say they thought it was going to be mellow. No. It’s very busy.”