Maine Association of School Nurses History
Did You Know That:
The first Executive Director of the newly incorporated NASN was Bev Farquar, a school nurse from Scarborough Maine and an early CFO from NASN, was Gloria Durgin. Scarborough became NASN’s “home” from the 1980’s to 2006 when NASN moved headquarters to Washington D.C. in 2006.
Did You Know That:
Sharon Conley has been Web Master for NASN since the early Scarborough, Maine days and continues to work for NASN, while residing in Maine
Did You Know That:
When NASN began there were approximately 99 school nurses in Maine in 1975, 318 school nurses in 1994, 325 school nurses in 1997, and today there are over 400 practicing school nurses in 737 public and private Maine schools.
Did You Know That:
MASN and NASN used each other’s By-laws in the early years of Association work in the 1980’s.
Did You Know That:
MASN began when a group of dedicated school nurses who attended the MAPHERD conferences annually, recognized that they were doing the work to find speakers and vendors for professional development and decided to branch out on their own resulting in the formation of the Maine Association of School Nurses in 1979/1980.
Did You Know That:
In 1989 we opened our first School based health clinic at Bonney Eagle HS.
Did You Know That:
In 1994 we developed a new board position called the Chair of the School Nurse of the Year (SNOY) and Jackie Tselikis, a leader in school nurse practice was named our 1st SNOY. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary for SNOY in 2019.
Did You Know That:
In the past two decades the Association has worked closely with the Department of Education, School Nurse Consultant. We went 10 years without a consultant because the legislature voted out the position. We have had to advocate for the position in the 1990s and again in the mid 2000’s and our efforts were heard restoring the position back into education law and funding within the Dept. of Ed budget.
Did You Know That:
In the fall of 2001 MASN members unified our membership, paying dues to both NASN and MASN.
Did You Know That:
In 2009 we developed our own webpage thanks to work of Ellen Martel and further expanded and maintained by the work Pat Endsley.
https://maineschoolnurse.nursingnetwork.com/
Did You Know That:
Our affiliate is most proud of the work we have done to have a strong membership, a high percentage of nurses belonging to MASN and NASN each year, our continuing pursuit of best practice in school nursing by offering strong conferences annually for our colleagues, of our work in protecting the SNC role, our activity in Maine legislation affecting Maine students and health, and we are proud to being asked for our opinion when student health needs present, and the fact that school nurses are visible in the state of Maine in our work advocating for our profession.
Did You Know That:
On a continuing basis, MASN members serve on the State of Maine Department of Education School Health Advisory Committee that originated in 1974, charged with improving the health of school-aged children via policy development and implementing legislation. Legislative initiatives that MASN has been directly involved in include, varicella vaccination, H1N1 clinics in schools; a leader in the country, school health policies and procedures, implementation of Epinephrine auto-injector stock in schools, concussion management, diabetes guidelines, medication administration for UAP’s, seizure management, promoting coordinated school health and collaboration with the Maine Board of Nursing related to coordination and oversight of UAP’s.
Did You Know That:
MASN Amanda Rowe Scholarship - Established 2014
“The world is a better place because of her uncommon kindness and courage”.
(Stephen Rowe, husband)
This MASN Scholarship is named for Amanda C. Rowe in honor of her selfless service to school nursing and the health of all Maine’s children. She spent over twenty years serving Maine children. Amanda Rowe had a great passion for school nursing. She served as the school nurse at Hall Elementary School in Portland, Maine for more than twenty years. She loved children and it was clear that they loved her. She worked hard to ensure that each child felt special and safe. Amanda was also the coordinator of school nursing services in Portland, Maine’s largest city. She worked countless hours often during nights and weekends organizing health services including influenza clinics.
Amanda provided support to school nurses across the state. She was always accessible and would answer any school nurse’s question with a thoughtful and experience based answer. Undaunted by obstacles and controversy, Amanda consistently and courageously advocated for public policies to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations. Amanda had a brilliant mind coupled with a sharp wit and was fun and creative. She lived life with exuberance! She died as she lived with dignity on July 14, 2013 after a long battle with breast cancer.
AND
In the fall of 2018, Hall School in Portland Maine was re-named the Amanda C. Rowe Elementary School
Story:
https://www.portlandschools.org/news___calendars/news/hall_s_new_name__amanda_c__rowe_elementary_school
Did You Know That:
That you can be a member of the Board for MASN as a volunteer for a special project, as a champion for school nurses, as a chairperson for a variety of board positions. Contact MASN President Pat Ensdsley @pendsley@wocsd.org
Historian contributors:
Jackie Tselikis MSEd, BS, RN
Brenda White MS, BSN, RN
Nancy Dube, MPH,BSEd, RN
Teresa M. Merrill, BS, RN
Bio: Teresa M. Merrill, BS, RN
School Nurse 1995-present, worked K-12, currently K-5
Member of MASN/NASN
MASN Board of Directors
Positions held:
District Director Cumberland County-4 years
President 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016
Past President 2016/2017, 2017/2018,
Historian 2017/2018
Historian 2018/2019
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