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Your hometown will always have a special place in your heart. This is what Anna Jones learned when she and her husband decided to move home to raise their daughter.

Jones, a nurse, is a native of Lanett, but she and her husband had moved to Huntsville for work.

“After we had our daughter and we realized how much we missed our family and how good a support system is, we decided to move back home to Valley,” Jones said. 

This year, Jones is giving back to her community as the new school nurse at LaFayette High School. 

“It’s still very rewarding,” Jones said. “Like most everything in nursing, you make that lasting impact on your patients. And here, my patients are my students.”

Before she came home, Jones worked in surgery and an intensive care unit in a hospital environment. As a school nurse, she still gets to utilize the hands-on skills she developed while caring for her patients differently. 

Jones has enjoyed the fresh challenges she faces each day. She said she never knows what surprises will walk through her door each day. 

“It’s always something different. It keeps me on my toes,” Jones said. 

More than that, though, Jones has enjoyed getting to know her students and developing relationships with them. Some students with chronic health concerns or daily medications have already developed a trust for sharing their experiences with her. 

“You know those small little victories in their health that they’re overcoming and achieving,” Jones said. “They’re getting to know me, and they feel comfortable sharing that information. So it’s very rewarding.”

Jones said she always wants her students to know that her office is a safe place for learning about their health. Her motto is that you have to be educated to be healthy and healthy to be educated.

“If you’re a bedside nurse, if you’re a nurse administrator working in management or if you’re a school nurse, you’re always going to make an impact on somebody,” Jones said. “You always want to make sure that there’s a good impact.”

Being back home has meant tending to the family’s brood of chickens and spending time with their extended family. Like her chicks, Jones and her husband have nested close to their roots and plan to stay for the long haul. 

“It’s awesome to be able to be in Chambers County, working in the school system and giving back to the kids of our community,” Jones said. 

Jones said the nursing team at Chambers County School District is great. 

“They have been very, very helpful so far this school year helping me learn the ropes,” Jones said. 

She said CCSD Lead Nurse Carla Anthony, who served as the school nurse at LaFayette High School last year, has been happy to answer all her questions.