Someone who cares here for you when you’re sick, harmed, or when you need someone to look after you. These are just a few of the responsibilities that nurses everywhere have, no matter how dangerous their jobs may be. Mindy Weissman, our new nurse at PPCHS, is the newest member of our Jag family! She started working at our school in December 2021 and has been here ever since. Mrs. Weissman, according to Mrs. Llanos, is the charter’s first ever nurse!

   She has been a firefighter paramedic since 1999, and she has worked in the medical industry for over 26 years. Mindi started out very early and has always enjoyed helping others, she decided to become a firefighter paramedic more so a paramedic when her father became ill with cancer because she always had the medics around for her father she wanted to be that person for someone else,” Mindi says when asked why she wanted to become a nurse. She aspired to be the first person on the scene to assist others.

   One of the aspects of her job as a paramedic and nurse that she has enjoyed the most over the years is assisting, listening to people, and being able to help them get better. On the other hand, one of the aspects of nursing that she finds the most challenging is the “psychological portion of it,” which she goes on to say is not the trauma or death, but how it impacts the families and friends. Despite this, Mindi is able to persevere and help them in any way she can, putting aside her personal feelings because it is part of her work.

   Moving on, one of the reasons that she came to Pembroke Pines Charter School specifically was because she wanted something different, from what she normally does and she’s always wanted to work with children and give them what she has given to the profession for over 16 years. Some of her hopes for this upcoming school year 2022 is that “this terrible sickness ends and that we don’t have to close schools because the students miss out on so much of the social element.” Also, promote learning and that everyone stays healthy and safe. In comparison with COVID-19 she’s doing nothing different than last year she works at the Covid Testing Site in Tropical 7 days a week. She explains that in order to stay safe she takes vitamins, gets as much sleep as you can, and doesn’t party.  

   Nurse Mindi will be a great addition to our Jag family! We will see great things from her in the future!