Hughes & Coleman Hometown Hero: Barren Co. Schools nurse practitioner pours heart into work

BARREN COUNTY, Ky. (WBKO) - This week’s Hometown Hero is brought to you by Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers.

A Barren County nurse practitioner was nominated as this week’s Hometown Hero for going above and beyond to care for children within the school district.

“I love this job and what it’s allowed me to do to better people,” said Amy Rutledge, APRN with Barren County Schools.

Rutledge’s love of nursing, led her to the Barren County School district in January 2020, right before the pandemic hit.

“We’ve definitely faced new challenges,” said Rutledge.

“During this COVID time, we’ve needed all hands on deck. And Amy is always available for questions-- giving us some advice with you know, quarantine situations or contact tracing,” said Josh Maples, Red Cross Elementary Principal.

While each school has its own nurse, Rutledge is one of two nurse practitioners within the district who rotates around to five different schools to meet various needs. The other nurse practitioner rotates to the other five schools.

“Amy is an invaluable part of our faculty. And she comes to us every day with a positive attitude and a heart for kids,” said Heather Shelton, Assistant Principal, Red Cross Elementary.

Rutledge will even see patients on holidays, school breaks or nights, colleagues say.

“You know, the hours don’t matter to her whatever’s a need is a need for her,” said Maples.

“There are lots of kids with lots of needs in this school and Amy never shirks any responsibility. She’s always willing to go above and beyond to help kids and help families so that they can be healthy, and come to school every day,” said Shelton.

A family nurse practitioner since 2005, Amy says she’s always just pursued her passion, and done so even today -- with humility.

“I feel like there’s a team that should be recognized and I’m just grateful to be a part of that team,” expressed Rutledge.

For her dedicated work as a healthcare hero within the Barren County School District and beyond, we honor Amy Rutledge as this week’s Hughes & Coleman Hometown Hero.

“She would say, you know, I’m just doing my job. But the things that we see are above and beyond what anybody we will be called to do,” said Michael.

“Amy, thank you so much for all of your care and your love for us and our kids at Red Cross,” said Shelton.

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