School Nurse (RN) of the Year
Sherri Wilson, RN
Sherri Wilson is currently the school nurse for Simpsonville Elementary School with Greenville County Schools. She provides nursing services for approximately 800 students and 80 staff members. Ms. Wilson’s positive attitude, high level of nursing knowledge and competency, and genuine concern for others form the strong foundation on which her successful school nursing practice is built. She has been a school nurse for 19 years.
Several parents wrote in support of Ms. Wilson’s nomination for School Nurse (RN) of the Year to explain the positive health outcomes their children experienced because of Ms. Wilson’s thorough nursing assessments, interventions and follow-through. One student’s parents noted that “Nurse Sherri” maintained daily contact with them during their child’s hospitalization for what was finally diagnosed as gastroparesis. The parents stated that Nurse Sherri not only became an advocate for their daughter during her transition back to school, but a guardian angel as well. Another parent recalled how Ms. Wilson deduced that her child’s “strange cough” might be related to an increase in medication ordered for ADHD. The parent checked with her child’s psychiatrist who confirmed the possibility, reduced the medication, and within a few days the cough disappeared.
Ms. Wilson does not limit her involvement at Simpsonville Elementary School to the health room. In addition to seeing students for routinely scheduled health services and acute health concerns, performing screenings, writing individual health care plans, and monitoring immunization compliance, Sherry Wilson:
- Leads the school’s First Response Team,
- Trains unlicensed assistive personnel to assist with health services when appropriate,
- Checks for ways to make the school environment a healthy place for students to learn and staff to work,
- Develops a “healthy tip of the week” for staff,
- Coordinates annual Worksite Wellness screenings and a flu vaccine clinic for employees and their spouses,
- Seeks out community partnerships as resources for students, and
- Participates in the school’s annual kindergarten preview night.
Sherri Wilson is recognized as an integral part of the Simpsonville Elementary School education team. She has earned the respect and confidence of her school’s students, parents, administrators, faculty, and staff. She nurtures and maintains this respect through her commitment to the ideals of the nursing profession and her daily decision to extend herself for the well-being of others.