The pledge, nurses' version of the Hippocratic Oath, is a promise they make to do the best and safest job they can. The final 12 words state, "And devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care."

During her years as a school nurse, Dice has done that. She's provided extra help to students and their families in need, she's taken in children who have nowhere else to go, and worked tirelessly to help families living in poverty.

"Pam has a heart that is as big if not bigger than Lincoln County," said Brenda Powell, executive secretary for Lincoln County Schools.

Dice, a nurse practitioner, is known throughout the county for her acts of kindness that go above the normal duties of a school nurse. She has driven kids to doctor's appointments. She provides medicine to children whose families cannot afford it. She buys groceries for people in need, and she provides free physicals to kids who may not have the opportunity to get a physical to play sports. Those are just a few of the good deeds Dice does regularly -- not to mention taking kids in to her home many would have or had already given up on.

"What I find is I try to save them all but sometimes it is hard to do, and you have to realize you are just making small impacts, not changing their whole life," Dice said.

Dice said her drive and desire to continually care for others stem from her mother, Juanita Hall. Hall was known throughout Hamlin and Lincoln County for her generosity before her death this past year after a long battle with cancer.

Dice said her grandmother ran a restaurant in Hamlin and would provide free meals to people in the community.

"Everyone knew mom and my grandmother were givers, so that was just the example imbedded into me to give," Dice said.

Dice said as a school nurse, she is generous so kids have an opportunity to stay in school -- noting many family units are broken and the school becomes a student's extended family.

"We need students in school to learn, so I try to keep them in school, and helping their parents helps keep them in school," Dice said. "Education is the only way to give some of these kids a chance to make it."

Dice said she has seen a lot during her years helping others. Many of those experiences have left a lasting impression on her. One story that sticks out in her mind was a home she went to several years ago. The mother was mentally challenged and morbidly obese. The home was filthy and had a dirt floor.

She had gone in to help the children with some medicine and was shocked by the conditions when she peered through the door.

"It absolutely broke my heart to see the condition this family was in," Dice said.

Dice once took in a 9-year-old boy with severe mental and physical disabilities. Both of his parents had died. The boy's remaining family took in his twin sister who did not have special needs, but the family did not want to care for the boy.

"I did not want him to go into the system, and I knew if something was not done he would have ended up in institutional care the rest of his life," Dice said.

Instead, Dice took custody of the boy for four months. She eventually found a Mennonite family in Virginia who was willing to care for the boy.

Dice said it is difficult to keep going sometimes. She said her work is often thankless. She said she cleaned a family's house, bought them groceries, got medicine for the children and they moved to Ohio without saying thanks.

"I went to check on them one day, and they had just disappeared," Dice said.

She took another child to have her tonsils removed, and the girl's mother tried to have Dice call in a prescription for codeine cough syrup.

"The girl's brother said, 'Mommy sells that codeine cough syrup,' and it made me so mad someone was trying to take advantage of my kindness," Dice said. "Some people make you feel unappreciated."

Fortunately for Dice, there are many in Lincoln County who do recognize the hard work she does for families.

Lincoln County School Superintendent David Roach said she is more than a nurse to Lincoln County students.

"She is a social worker for students and their parents," Roach said.

Roach added the staff appreciates Dice's actions as well.

"She is so well received by our own staff to the point they often call her for advice when they are feeling bad," Roach said. "She does not even get compensated for her extra efforts, yet she still does it all for everyone."

Guyan Valley Middle School principal Kevin Pritchard said Dice daily goes above and beyond her duties.

"On several occasions she has loaded a student up in her personal vehicle and taken them to the doctor or given up a Saturday for physicals," Pritchard said. "That is just the kind of person she is."

Harts Intermediate School principal Belinda Toney said Dice has helped many kids in the area.

"She always makes sure kids who do not have the means to get medicine, whether their parents cannot get to the pharmacy or afford it, Pam gets it to them," Toney said.

Dice humbly said she was embarrassed to talk about the extra things she does -- despite feelings of doubt that her efforts make a difference. She said she still has hope.

"The success stories really are few and far between in the people I help, but you hope maybe one act of kindness will help influence the next generation," Dice said.

"You can't go home frustrated so I do what I can."

And she lives out the pledge to devote herself to the welfare of those in her care.