Long before Linda Carpenter picked up her award recognizing her as “Georgia School Nurse LPN of the Year,” one student’s mother had already decided Carpenter was one of the best nurses around.

When Cathy Allen’s son Brandon, 10, had a scooter accident on a Sunday morning in February, she did what any responsible mom would do. She took him to the emergency room. He had a concussion, she was told. Watch him and follow up with your doctor.

She did just that, sending him back to Long Cane Elementary School three days later on her doctor’s orders.

That same day she got a call from Linda Carpenter, who insisted that Allen pick up her son and immediately take him to the hospital.

“She told me, ‘Something is wrong. Brandon is not normal. You need to get him back to the emergency room and make them do another CT scan,’ ” Allen said.

She did exactly that and hours later the family was on its way to an Atlanta children’s hospital, where Brandon had emergency surgery to stop bleeding on his brain.

“I’ve told her over and over, ‘Miss Linda, you saved Brandon’s life.’ He could have died and now he’s completely healed,” Allen recalled.

Most days are a little more routine, but Carpenter’s attention to detail and commitment to her job were some of the primary reasons she received the statewide award in Savannah from the Georgia Association of School Nurses.

Carpenter is the only school nurse who oversees the medical needs of more than 1,400 students at Long Cane Middle and Long Cane Elementary schools. In addition to the routine stomach aches and headaches, Carpenter dispsnses medications; checks on students with allergies, asthma and diabetes; and responds to emergency medical events at both schools.

On top of that, she teaches CPR classes to staff and faculty members, and organizes the hearing and vision program at all the Troup County elementary schools.

“It’s not just Band-Aids,” Carpenter admitted.

The biggest challenge is recognizing what is going on with students who come to her office.

“Sometimes it’s about what they tell you, sometimes it’s more about what they don’t tell you. I learned a long time ago you’ve got to think out of the box,” Carpenter said.

She learned that lesson early, during one of her first nursing jobs in a Maine emergency room with an experienced doctor.

“I still remember an elderly man who called 911 on Christmas Eve. He was vague about his symptoms, and the doctor finally told him he couldn’t find anything wrong with him,” she said.

That’s when the man began to cry and pleaded with the doctor, “Please don’t send me home. I just can’t spend Christmas alone.”

That’s when she learned to listen to both what her patients said and what they didn’t say.

“You just don’t ever know. I do a lot of listening and observing,” she said.

Carpenter was hired for the school nurse position in 2004. At the time, she was working at Troup County Health Department. When she heard about the job opening, she thought it might be an interesting change.

“I love it. I love working with all the students, but especially the middle schoolers . They’re unpredictable,” she said.

Carpenter was nominated for the statewide award by another school nurse, Tammy McCants .

“Linda is a great role model to others,” said Jayne Pauley , health services coordinator for Troup County schools, who oversees the 10 school nurses that serve 22 schools.

“We have a great nursing staff. They all work so hard,” Pauley said. “What stands out about Linda is that she doesn’t leave her job until it’s done. She’s not an 8-to-2 person. She’s a 7:30-to-whenever-the-job-is-done person. If there’s an assignment to do, she does it with a happy heart. Linda never fusses about anything.

“Above and beyond all else is her Christian leadership. I know that’s part of why she is who she is.”

Sherri Brown can be reached at sbrown @lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 240.