Media Contacts:
Valerie Foster
Harrison Edwards PR/914-242-0010
vfoster@harrison-edwardspr.com
                        -or-
Ted Herman
Hudson Health Plan/914-372-2204
therman@hudsonhealthplan.org

 

CIARE R. BELL OF MONTICELLO WINS HUDSON HEALTH PLAN’S
"WHY I APPRECIATE MY SCHOOL NURSE" ESSAY COMPETITION


Hudson Honors Ciare and Her School Nurses, Pamela Shimer and Cherie DeGraw,
at George L. Cooke Elementary School to Commemorate
National School Nurse Day on May 11th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2011

(Tarrytown, NY)…Ciare R. Bell, a fourth grader at George L. Cooke Elementary School in Monticello, has won Hudson Health Plan’s “Why I Appreciate My School Nurse” essay competition for the Monticello School District’s elementary students. Hudson presented certificates to Ciare and school nurses, Pamela Shimer of Wurtsboro and Cherie DeGraw of Woodbourne, on Wednesday, May 11th, National School Nurse Day, and treated Ciare’s class to a pizza lunch.

“I love everyone in my school…but my school nurses are my role models,” Ciare Bell wrote in her winning essay. “They are nice, kind, helpful, loving, sweet and respectful. They don’t care about how weird it is or how nasty. They will take care of anything, from asthma to a simple bruise.”

Margaret Leonard, MS, RN-BC, FNP, Senior Vice President of Clinical Services at Hudson, says that school nurses are often the first health professionals to notice health issues, such as vision problems or scoliosis. “In inner city schools, where many children come from homes with little economic security and limited access to health care, school nurses may be the only health professional the child sees on a regular basis,” Ms. Leonard says. “Add our nation’s soaring rates of childhood diabetes and asthma, and many students might not be able to attend school without on-site nurses to administer insulin pumps or asthma treatments.

Ms. Shimer, who has worked as a Monticello school nurse for 17 years, says: “We do see more medically involved children, but we also are still doing the same things we have done forever – Band-Aides, ice packs, cuts, scrapes. I am so grateful that Monticello allows schools to have school nurses, because so many schools in New York State do not have nurses.”

Ms. DeGraw, who has worked at George L. Cooke Elementary School for three years, says she finds her job so rewarding, challenging and fun. “We touch the children’s lives, if only for two seconds at a time, but we really do make a difference.”

Ciare certainly appreciates her attention. “Our nurses love and care for everyone,” she writes. “Our nurses are the best.”

Hudson Health Plan is a community-based not-for-profit health care organization that provides state-sponsored Medicaid Managed Care, Child Health Plus, and Family Health Plus insurance coverage to adults and children in Dutchess and nearby counties In New York State, almost all children younger than 19 who are not currently covered by health insurance are eligible for Child Health Plus. To see if your child is eligible, call Hudson at 1-800-339-4557 or visit our website.

For More Information:

About Hudson Health Plan

Hudson Health Plan is a community-based not-for-profit health care organization that provides state-sponsored Medicaid Managed Care, Child Health Plus, and Family Health Plus insurance coverage to over 100,000 members in New York’s Hudson Valley. Hudson uses every government dollar it receives to fulfill its mission, which is “to promote and provide access to excellent health services for all people.” Hudson improves the health of its members and the communities in which they live through its innovations in care coordination, and by supporting over 5,000 local health providers. In both 2009 and 2010, Hudson achieved the highest quality incentive scores of any Medicaid plan in New York State. It also has earned the highest ratings in overall satisfaction among Medicaid Managed Care members in the Hudson Valley region every year since 2003.

Hudson Health Plan is based in Tarrytown, N.Y. Visit Hudson on the Web at www.hudsonhealthplan.org, and at www.facebook.com/hudsonhealthplan.

 

# # #

Download the PDF of this press release 

Return to previous page