Leelanau County resident Briana Truckey has served as the registered nurse for the Suttons Bay School Wellness Program since 2023, however, she’s been supporting the district behind the scenes for many more years in different capacities.
The opening with the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD) for the Suttons Bay K-12 nurse position was the perfect opportunity for Truckey to get back into nursing though, and when she discovered the school was looking to hire, she made the move to apply.
“Last year I just got thinking ‘I’m ready to go back to nursing, but I’m going to wait until something calls to me and just feels like the perfect fit,’” Truckey explained. “I like starting from scratch with things and building it up so that it best suits students needs, the school itself, and our community — it feels like satisfying work. I’m very invested in my school system… but in particular I like nursing positions where I can build relationships, and with this one it’s both with students and their families.”
Before Truckey took on the new role in August 2023, she was running her side business, Northern Way of Life, which she created in 2014 and focused on commercial and landscape photography. In addition to her work collaborations, her photography prints are sold at 2Fish Gallery in Leland.
In early 2020, Truckey subcontracted with Suttons Bay via her business, and was employed as a social media manager for the district’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Now, she’s doing both jobs and enjoying every minute of being able to help the school that both her kids, Jackson and Lauren, have grown up attending since they were Lil’ Norsemen.
“I was grateful that they were willing, both BLDHD and Suttons Bay School, to allow me to continue doing the district social media stuff for the school,” she said. “It’s really fun to be able to say hi to them (her kids) throughout the day. A lot of kids have gone to school together since really early elementary, so this particular middle school — the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders — they’re my kids’ friends and classmates, so I know their particular group pretty well.”
The transition back into that nurse mindset after a decade hiatus from the field was a relatively smooth one, with BLDHD staff supportive of her process in setting up the new Norse Clinic inside Suttons Bay middle school. Truckey said the health department receives funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to provide school nursing and mental health services, with a goal to reduce the amount of time kids miss school for health related issues and to positively impact the health of the school population.
“I definitely went back over a lot of my old pediatric books, but certainly I’ve been a mom for 14 years, and just reminding myself that I’ve already worked in pediatrics, I can pull out that knowledge that you never really lose,” she said.
Born and raised in Midland, Truckey attended Central Michigan University before transferring to Mid Michigan College and graduating with a nursing degree in 2006. Soon after becoming a nurse, she worked in corrections in Wisconsin, returning a year later to Suttons Bay and taking on a job at the Grand Traverse Children’s Clinic from 2007 to 2012.
When Truckey’s parents retired from their jobs downstate in 2017, they followed in Truckey’s footsteps and also moved to the Suttons Bay area, so grandparents are never far away and are able to spend lots of time with the grandchildren, too.
“It was nice to have them (move) just down the road, they do a lot with the kids, so it’s great,” she said.
The Norse Clinic opened on Oct. 16 and has already reported 88 nurse visits by students through Christmas break. The district had never had a full time school nurse before Truckey, but only one that was there part-time two days a week. The Norse Clinic is a first for Suttons Bay families, and is open five days a week, all-year long.
Truckey’s job includes responsibilities like assessing for illness, determining if she can treat someone at school or if they need to go home, and treating injuries. Another big piece of the program is student education, visiting classrooms to talk about dental health and hygiene, and providing staff with important health education throughout the year.
“I think student health and learning outcomes, those two things are pretty intertwined and whether it’s my own kids or other peoples kids, making sure they’re healthy certainly ties into their success at school,” she said. “It’s a small piece of a much bigger pie, but it’s an important one… I like not knowing what the day will bring. I see a variety of things everyday, and I just love that everyday is a big question mark.”
