Joanne Vallee
jovallee@yahoo.com
Surprises in Nashville at the NASN Conference! While at a
breakout session, Joanne Vallee School Nurse in Medford comes over to
say “howdy”. She had decided to come to conference! We had a chance to
sit down together and get acquainted.
Joanne grew up in Chicago. She completed her basic nursing there
and then earned her BSN at the University of Phoenix while in her 40’s
(way to go Joanne!) Prior to getting her BSN, she worked in an ER in San
Jose California. She discovered school nursing as she completed her
Community Health rotation while earning her BSN. Her first School Nurse
job was in Sunnyvale CA. where she took on an Elementary and Middle
School totaling about 7000 students. She began joining her
professional School Nurse organizations for survival!!! She was a
credentialed School Nurse in California for ten years.
This Fall, will be the beginning of Joanne’s third year as District nurse
for Medford. For the first 1.25 years she was the only nurse for @12,000
students. Her district is composed of 14 elementary, 2 middle and 2 high
schools. She was ready to quit when they hired Jodi Bostwick as the
second nurse. She raves about Jodi and states the she could not do her
job without the teamwork! Joanne retained responsibility for all 14
elementary schools and Jodi took the older kids. This about evenly
distributes the student population. They share an office located at
their media center.
Joanne feels that it has taken these past two years to really “get her
feet under her” and establish connection and credibility with the staff
in her 14 schools. Next year she will also have the responsibility of
an alternative school site. She is working on her NBCSN certification
and sat the test while in Nashville. She is also completing the TSPC
paperwork.
On the personal level, Joanne is married and has two children. Her 15
year old daughter is an equestrian and was the motivator for the
families move to Oregon where she can have horses. She has two quarter
horses of her own and takes part in a variety of equestrian events. Her
foster/adopted son is now 7 and has been a part of their family since he
was 4 days old. Her husband is a network computer engineer. Joanne
likes to garden and loves discovering Oregon. They like to travel
locally and explore. Since moving to Medford 3 years ago, they have
seen the southern Oregon coast, Crater Lake, Bend and Seaside areas.
Joanne we are so glad for the expertise and knowledge that you have
brought with you to Oregon, the children of Medford and to OSNA.
Everyone, we need to invite Joanne and her family to “our neck of the
woods” and help her continue an exploration of Oregon!
Submitted by Carol Zirkle OSNA President October 2007
Don't forget to send in your nomination for Nurse of the Year!