Utah School Nurse of the Year 2004
Lynne Calame
LYNNE CALAME, RN, BSN, MEd
UTAH SCHOOL NURSE OF THE YEAR - 2004!!
Lynne has worked hard to arrive where she is today. She put herself through nursing school at the University of Utah College of Nursing while raising 2 very small children on her own. She quickly found her real love - school nursing. She started out as the nurse for the Follow Through Program, an extension of Headstart. When that program ended she became a nurse with the Salt Lake City School District where she has been working for almost 25 years - and doing a remarkable job I might add. Lynne worked hard to receive her Master’s of Education degree a few years ago and is responsible for having put together or improved many programs that are the backbones of health education efforts within the school district - the AIDS program taught annually to all 3-6th graders, the maturation program taught annually to all 5-6 graders, and other health education classes. She was single-handedly responsible for bringing the other nurses in the school district into the computer age. By her efforts, every nurse got a computer, printer and learned how to use it - sort of. She also affiliated us with the USIIS program for the state where immunizations can be tracked by computer if given anywhere in the state.
While working full time for SL School District, she also puts in many evenings teaching maturation programs in other school districts through her “Birds and Bees” business and is known by little 5th and 6th grade girls and their moms from one end of the valley to the other.
Lynne has been involved from the very beginning of her career in professional and community service. She has almost always served in one position or another in the Utah School Nurses Association, from board member to president. She has mentored nursing and medical students from the U of U and Westminster College. She has served on the U of U College of Nursing Alumni Board as board member and president. In preparation for the Olympics in 2002, she co-chaired a committee through UNA, the Utah Nurses Coalition 2002. Through this affiliation she was the UNA rep to the Healthier You 2002 committee sponsored by SLOC. She was involved in years of meetings, many Gold Medal Miles, spoke at many conferences and worked on health information to be given to Olympic attendees and participants in the form of bookmarks translated into four languages talking about altitude sickness and hypothermia. She also volunteered during the Olympics as a Doping Control Escort and technical officer for the medical services in Doping Control.
In her spare time, she works with Pegas Medical Research group and volunteers for a week during the summer at Camp Fellowship as the camp nurse.
Whew!! Lynne loves her profession and has been, and continues to be, a great influence on colleagues as well as others. She is a “doer” - she gets things done. Her influence as an educator, mentor and, of course, nurse has been experienced by many people. Many lives in our community and elsewhere have been enriched by the expertise and energy of this dedicated and accomplished woman.
CONGRATULATIONS LYNNE!!
Previous School Nurses of the Year:
1999-Nan Mead
2000-Peggy Nielsen
2001-Colleen Drake
2002-Margie Golden
2003-Carla Lott
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Mary Ito Award 2003
Salt Lake City School District School Nurses
2003 Mary Ito Award
Salt Lake City School District School Nurses Lynne Calame, Mary Clark, Nan Mead, and Deborah Milan-Niler and Secretary Ayme Paredes and Health Aid Nancy Kelly were recipients of the 2003 Mary Ito Award. Last year they were the first school district in Utah to be a part of USIIS (Utah State Immunization information System)--the state immunization registry paving the way for other districts. They gave 3,000 vaccinations to students last school year. This year alone, they gave over 2,000 vaccinations at registration. USNA recognized these recipients for their exceptional contribution to school nursing.
The Mary Ito Story
Mary Machiko Ito was a school nurse for an Indian Reservation in Wyoming as far back as anyone can remember. While most of us look forward to and count days until retirement, Mary Ito’s “retirement” was unique. You see, upon her retirement, Mary moved to Utah and immediately found ways to get involved in nursing again.
Mary Ito was proud to be a school nurse and worked hard to keep up on continuing education credits to keep her nursing license current. She was a member of the Utah School Nursing Association, community health interest group and volunteered in the area program for the aging. Mary stayed active with school nursing activities in retirement by administering flu shots for 10 - 12 senior citizen centers every fall, participating in kindergarten vision screening in granite and jordan school districts, and even driving back to Wyoming to help out in her old schools.
Aside from her unwavering dedication to her role as a school nurse, Mary had many qualities that each of us strive every day to acheive. She has been described by her peers as having a seemingly unlimited giving personality, having genuine concern and love for those around her, and having a fantastic sense of humor. Wherever Mary was, she was sure to be accompanied by her famous pickles, six packs of coke, crochet pen holders, and, of course, her fortune cookies.
Mary Ito set the precedence in school nursing. Her dedication and love for her work is a stellar example of what each of us have inside. In 2000 the Utah School Nurse Association created an annual award in her honor, rightfully named the Mary Ito Award, to be presented to a school nurse who, like Mary, has also made a unique contribution to the discipline of school nursing.
This year’s recipient of the Mary Ito Award is no stranger. She is esteemed by her collegues as being “super-organized”, “devoted to her profession” and an “extremely hard worker”. Her endless hours of labor in developing our USNA website is a key resource in providing updated communication between each of us throughout the state. Now we are able to get up-to-date info on what’s happening with our nursing organization at any time of the day with a simple click of the mouse. The well-rounded hub of information offers ways to contact board members, conference information, legislative events, inspirational quotes and stories, and links to other websites of interest to the school nurse just to name a few. This very unique contribution to our school nursing organization will most certainly help each of us to be more informed, more effecient, and more unified. It is an honor and priviledge to present the recipient of this year’s prestigious Mary Ito Award, Lana Sullivan of the Davis County Health Department.
Previous Mary Ito Awards:
2000-Dr. Rosa Oakes RN., Ed.D
2002-Lana Sullivan
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