Pinellas School Nurses Feed Colleagues On Coronavirus Front Lines

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Community support has been seen and felt across St. Petersburg for nurses working on the front lines at medical facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. Sara O'Toole, managing officer of school health services of Pinellas County Schools, founded a GoFundMe page about a month ago so she and her staff could show their appreciation to nurses in Pinellas County by treating them to pizza, salad and beverages.

"In honor of nurses week, which was a couple weeks ago, my staff and I got together, we started a GoFundMe account, and we called it the 'Nurses Supporting Nurses' project," said O'Toole.

Their initial goal was to raise $1,000 to help provide food for nurses, however, they ended up raising $1,180 for the project.

"My school nurses and myself have been fortunate enough that we've been able to work from home and still be safe and sheltered, but many of our colleagues and peers in the profession are not so lucky," O'Toole told Patch. "And so we wanted to get together and just support them in any way, so we came up with this idea for food delivery."

On Tuesday, they delivered food and beverages to the fourth location, The Bishop Children's Center in St. Pete since they started this. O'Toole and her staff met the Center's nursing staff right outside the front door. And even though they all had on masks, their smiles and appreciation could be felt.

"This means a lot to us, that we're thought of and people realize we do what we do," said Bishop Children Center Administrator, Teresa Keller. "We help quite a few families that are school-age and not school age, and it's great to be appreciated."

O'Tool said that she wants to make the food delivery project to Pinellas County nurses an annual event.

Other facilities the Nursing Supporting Nurses project has delivered to include Seminole Pavilion and Rehab at Freedom Square, Children's Center at Sabal Palms and Pediatric Prescribed Extended Care in Clearwater. Tuesday's food delivery to Bishop Children's Center was the final delivery for this year.