Friend of School Nursing Award

The Friend of School Nursing Award will recognize individuals, groups, or organizations not actively engaged in the practice of professional nursing who promote and publicize the importance of school nursing.

Download the nomination form with criteria here.

Friend of School Health  Dr. Leah Devlin     

Leah McCall Devlin graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in 1979 and began her professional career with the Wake County Department of Health.  Within a few short years she had completed her M.P.H. at Carolina and was named Director of the Wake County Department of Health in 1986.  She was and has been a staunch advocate for public health and a determined catalyst for change with a focus on health promotion and disease prevention for children and adolescents.

Among the many accomplishments made during her ten years as Director, two stand out..  Truly committed to tobacco control, Wake County was the first health department to go smoke free in 1986 and later the Board of Health was the first to pass a smoking control ordinance for the entire county.  When she became State Health Director in 2001, she continued to develop and lobby for policies especially related to reducing teen initiation of smoking.  She worked closely with the Health and Wellness Trust to create tobacco-free schools.

Her second accomplishment while still serving as the health director in Wake County was the initiation of the “Hospital Alliance”, a partnership of the health department and the three hospitals in the county  to focus on the need for more school nurses and access to health services for “at risk” students. The Alliance received funding from The Duke Endowment. At the end of the three year grant, the outcomes were so positive that money from the sale of the Department’s home health program was used to fund additional school nurse positions.

When Dr. Devlin became State Health Director and Director of the Division of Public Health in 2001, she promised to make School Health her signature program.  She immediately began to educate the DHHS Secretary (Carman Odom) and Governor Mike Easley about the astonishing lack of school nurses through out the state and the negative impact of unidentified/untreated health conditions on educational performance.  She was persuasive in getting the Governor to talk about school nurses in his state of the state address and to include them in his budget.  In 2004, state funding was appropriated for 145 new school nurse positions.  Dr. Devlin also identified Division funds for an additional 65 positions.

In efforts to do more with less, Dr. Devlin created a School Health Matrix Team to bring together the Division of Public Health resources dedicated to the health of students.  The Team formalized a system by which all of the Division’s “school health players” could work together around the CDC’s eight-component model of coordinated school health to improve the health and academic achievement of students.  One of the areas of focus was on childhood obesity.  Dr. Devlin oversaw the implementation of The Eat Smart Move More initiative, a nationally recognized effort to reduce obesity, and the collaboration with the Department of Public Instruction in the adoption of nutrition standards and required physical activity in grades K-8.

Dr. Devlin has been a member of numerous committees/commissions, as well as an officer in many state and national organizations reflecting her broad interest in school and public health.. These include the Minority Health Advisory Council, the NC Child Fatality Task Force, the Childhood Obesity Task Force, State Emergency Response Commission and the NC Institute of Medicine Pan Flu Ethics Task Force.   Dr. Devlin retired in 2009 keeping her promise to make school health her signature program. She is, indeed, a worthy Friend of School Nursing.

Only SNANC members are given the opportunity to nominate for the Friend of School Nursing Award.  The recipients will be recognized at the SNANC Annual Meeting. Nomination deadline must be postmarked by July 15.