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February 3, 2022BY TANYA CONNOR | THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
A nurse who guided a new diocesan school through the pandemic was recognized Jan. 25.
Robin Resteghini, school nurse at St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School, received the first Saint Paul Service Award at a Mass on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul.
“On this feast day … the Church celebrates the spirit and zeal of Paul’s Christian witness and service,” Michael Clark, head of school, said in presenting the award, which will be given to a staff member annually.
“Like Saint Paul himself, the recipient’s inspiring zeal sets a standard of servant-leadership for others in the Saint Paul community to model.”
“Robin is so, so deserving,” Mr. Clark told The Catholic Free Press. He asked staff to nominate a person for the honor.
“The absolute clear choice was Robin,” both in number of nominations and comments made, he said. She got the most votes.
“I was very surprised and honored,” Mrs. Resteghini told The Catholic Free Press. “I’m grateful, and I continue to come to work every day for the kids and the people I work with. Administration has been super supportive during everything.”
“This year’s recipient is described by colleagues as compassionate, of good humor, and a source of guidance and strength,” Mr. Clark said in his presentation. He said one staff member wrote that Mrs. Resteghini “has been a hero through all of this, with the amount of work she has had to do.”
Commented another, “She always goes above and beyond her responsibilities. She’s handled the pandemic in a way that made us all feel safe being in school.”
She wasn’t the only nominee, however.
“I found that very heartening,” Mr. Clark said. “Everybody is really giving their all.…
“We’re a school that was formed from a merger during a pandemic,” he said, and added with a touch of humor, “I don’t strongly recommend anyone go out of their way to have that experience!”
Mrs. Resteghini is a full-time employee “through the whole academic day, through the whole academic year,” who’s been with St. Paul’s since the new school opened in August 2020, he said. But since then, because of the pandemic, “her job has been a seven-day-a-week job.”
She is the person contacted first when a student or staff member tests positive for the coronavirus, no matter what day of the week it is. She advises families about quarantine time required for those infected or in close contact with them.
She’s among those at the school who do contact tracing, studying classroom seating charts and asking coaches if infected students were at practices or games, to find out who was exposed.
“At the height of this – the first week we came back after the new year this year … we were averaging” 12 close contacts minimum, 20 at most, Mr. Clark said. So if eight students tested positive in a day, there could be 100 or more close contacts.
Mrs. Resteghini must submit the information to the City of Worcester Division of Public Health.
All that is in addition to her regular job that involves such tasks as distributing medications and monitoring blood sugar for students, Mr. Clark said.
“And then you have your regular cuts and colds and stomach aches, all of what would usually go into school nursing,” he said.
“Robin is a genuinely good person,” he said. “She’s good humored and good tempered and she understands kids. Those are the ingredients for success when you’re working with young people and their health.”
Mrs. Resteghini’s husband, Matthew, and older daughter, Julia, St. Paul’s Class of 2024, attended the presentation.
