The South Carolina Departments of Education and Health and Environmental Control recently recognized Pamela Allsbrook for providing outstanding health services in a school setting. She has been named South Carolina’s 2010 School Nurse of the Year.
Allsbrook, a Registered Nurse serving students in the Horry County School District, spent most of her 12-year school nursing career at South Conway Elementary School.  Allsbrook made sure that her students had access to dental care; she helped arrange partnerships between the school district, local dentists and the Horry Georgetown Technical College.
While students today present with more complex health needs than ever before (ranging from medication management to feeding tube care), the ratio of school nurses to students nationwide falls far short of the federally recommended ratio of one nurse per 750 students. In South Carolina, there’s an average of one school nurse per 901 students.