Erin Lawrence, a longtime nurse for the Los Alamitos Unified School District, has won the Excellence in School Nurse Administration Award for her work advocating for children with health needs, helping families deal with serious health issues and serving as a role model for colleagues and students.
The Southern California regional honor by the Southern Section California School Nurse Organization means that Lawrence will now compete for statewide recognition of her work. Earlier this year, Lawrence, who has worked for the District for more than 20 years, was named Orange County Coordinating School Nurse of the Year.
Marci McLean-Crawford, president of the nursing organization, presented the award to Lawrence and praised her work “to maintain the attendance of diabetic students as well as created documentation to care for children with chronic health issues. Her advocacy for students and staff deserved recognition.”
Lawrence, who holds a Master’s degree in management and leadership and is licensed as a registered and public health nurse, wears many hats in the 10,000-student Los Alamitos Unified district. She oversees a staff of one other school nurse and a small group of health clerks and licensed vocational nurses. She provides direct health aid to students when needed, participates in district-wide vision and hearing screenings and makes home visits and welfare checks on students.
“Erin’s passion and dedication to the staff, families, and students in Los Alamitos Unified is remarkable,” said Grace Delk, director of Special Education and Mental health Services for the District. “She is more than deserving of this honor and we are so proud to have her on our team.”
For her part, Lawrence said she was “surprised and humbled to receive this honor. I work with an amazing team, and we have spent many years making our health services efforts work effectively for all of our students in the district.”
