(posted on January 27, 2010)

Pam Allsbrook, lead float nurse for Horry County Schools, has been named the South Carolina School Nurse (RN) of the Year by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the South Carolina Department of Education. This prestigious award, presented at the South Carolina Annual School Nurse Conference, recognizes Allsbrook’s unlimited contributions to her school, its students and staff, and the community.

As the District’s lead float nurse, Allsbrook works to support school nurses by orienting new staff members, providing ongoing professional development, and has been instrumental in helping school nurses implement software designed to make the health room more efficient. She works to provide employee training and recertification for cardio pulmonary resuscitation and for the emergency use of an automatic external defibrillator.

A former emergency room nurse, Allsbrook’s has served as a school nurse for the last 12 years. During that time, she has had many opportunities to impact the lives of students. She once had a student who was diagnosed as a brittle diabetic and went to extensive efforts to teach the student and his parents about the disease. To insure his safety during morning and afternoon commutes, Allsbrook would pick the student up for school and take him home afterwards and often cared for the student at times when parents were out of town.

In her community, Allsbrook serves her church as a teacher and coordinator of children’s programs. She spends much of her summers as a nurse at two camps, one of which serves children with physical disabilities and chronic illnesses. This past summer, Allsbrook traveled to Nepal as a medical missionary.

Allsbrook is an active member of the South Carolina Association of School Nurses and has assisted in the Association’s last nine annual conferences. She and her husband, Neil, have two children.