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Jessie Wallace: California School Nurse of the Year
Jessie Wallace is the 2007 California School Nurses Organization School Nurse of the Year. Currently the school nurse at Hamilton Elementary and part-time project nurse in the Nursing and Wellness Program, she has been a school nurse for 20 years. As the school nurse at Hamilton for the last 10 years, she has learned the needs of the community and become knowledgeable of its resources. Her proudest contribution is her effort to develop a program that addresses the obesity epidemic in her school population. The program consists of a successful walking group, classroom nutrition curricula, and a family educational series that focuses on health promotion and disease prevention. She organized a Health and Wellness Fair in June, 2007 that showcased the community’s health and safety resources. She was instrumental in helping her school receive a $1,000 mini-grant for its wellness policy implementation. Her experience at Hamilton has resulted in significant professional and personal growth.
Jennifer Gorman: School Nurse Administrator of the Year
Jennifer Gorman is the 2007 California School Nurses Organization Administrator of the Year. She is currently the Nursing and Wellness Program Manager and has been with the district 27 years, working in a variety of school settings. She started at elementary schools, then moved to middle schools; worked at an alternative high school and pregnant minor program; then settled comfortably at a high school. She believed she had found her niche as a high school nurse, until she was offered a new position as a Physical Health/Designated Instructional Services special education nurse, a position that transitioned to Special Education Itinerant Nurse. She held that position for eleven years. The position offered a lot of autonomy and independence as well as leadership opportunities not always available to site school nurses. As the Nursing and Wellness manager for the past four years, Jennifer believes she has found her true "calling". She feels like she can make a definite contribution to the nursing profession and the improvement of healthcare and quality of life for children and families.
