Last summer, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, Dearborn Academy found itself searching for a new school nurse. Rising to the top of the substantial resume pile was Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Alyssa (Allie) Coneys, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC.

Not only did Allie have an interest and expertise in supporting young people with mental health challenges, she also had experience working on the front lines against COVID-19. For months, she had served as the lead of a COVID-19 testing site that is part of the Massachusetts Stop the Spread Initiative, something that she continued to do in her free time outside of school through the end of 2020.

Just what the doctor ordered, Alyssa joined the Dearborn Academy at a critical time in planning for the reopening of the school. Her expertise has been instrumental in safeguarding the health and safety of both students and staff of Dearborn Academy and Dearborn STEP during this unique school year. Working closely with Head of School Rebecca Altepeter and other staff, Allie has led efforts to ensure that clear, sound and evidence-based COVID protocols were developed and, just as important, created ways to assess and adjust these protocols as needed.

Allie has also been closely following the COVID-19 vaccination roll out in Massachusetts and has kept staff and other stakeholders apprised of the progress. She is also thrilled that over half of the Dearborn staff has received at least one dose of the vaccine already! Allie specifically has been working at the mass vaccination site at Gillette Stadium after school and on weekends to aid in vaccination efforts and has administered thousands of vaccines at this point.

Allie is doing all of this while ensuring the general health and wellbeing of Dearborn Academy and Dearborn STEP students – and while serving on the Schools for Children Anti-Racism Task Force and on a Dearborn-led team of mental health professionals developing a new, unique consultation model of service. The model is designed to help students who have suffered from treatment-resistant mental health challenges.

“Compassionate and self-motivated, Allie has brought expertise and professionalism to the work we have done to successfully mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in our school,” states Head of School Rebecca Altepeter. “She has done this while ensuring that our students are receiving excellent healthcare support.”

Prior to coming to Dearborn, Allie served in a variety of settings from a boarding school to primary care to private duty nursing. She has a B.S. in neuroscience from the University of New Hampshire and a B.S. and M.S. in nursing (specialized in pediatric primary care) from Regis College, among a myriad of certifications.