YSN in the Community
 Lois Sadler Named Prestigious Elm-Ivy Award Winner
YSN Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Lois Sadler, was recently presented with a prestigious Seton Elm-Ivy Award at a ceremony presided over by Yale University President, Richard Levin, and New Haven Board of Aldermen President, Carl Goldfield.
Dr. Sadler was honored for her work since 1979 with teen parents in New Haven and for teaching parent education classes to student parents enrolled in the Polly T. McCabe Center, a transitional school for pregnant students in Grades 8 through 12 in city schools.
The citation, presented by President Levin and Alderman Goldfield, read in part, "Dr. Sadler's research and clinical scholarship has led to documented and published improvements in both quality of life and long term health outcomes for vulnerable teens and young families in New Haven and beyond."
The Seton Elm-Ivy Awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding individual effort to sustain and expand the partnership between the "town and gown." Yale School of Nursing has a long and proud history of community outreach and advocacy. Our community partners keep us informed about the most pressing needs in Greater New Haven, and share their extensive expertise in helping our students, faculty and staff to meet those needs.
About YSN in the Community
Today, YSN is recognized throughout Greater New Haven for its role in improving the health of our local community, especially among the community's most vulnerable populations, for providing health education and mentorship in public schools, for advancing diversity training and education throughout Yale University, and for increasing opportunities for high school students to pursue university education and careers in the allied health sciences. In many of these initiatives, YSN has partnered with the Yale Office of New Haven and State Affairs, and continues to provide a broad range of resources to the greater Yale University community in improving the quality of life in New Haven and in the State of Connecticut.
In addition to being involved in the School-sponsored community partnerships, the majority of our faculty, students and staff also volunteer at institutions and not for profit organizations where they live and work. Their dedication to community service and their wealth of local, regional and international expertise enables YSN to continue to provide leadership in nursing education, research and clinical practice.
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Student Spotlight
"AWESOME. I loved it!" This is Vanessa Reid's exuberant characterization of her community health experience this summer on a South Dakota reservation. A former GEPN student who entered YSN last fall, Vanessa extends this positive attitude beyond community health. Asked whether she was happy with her decision to enter nursing, she replies, "Absolutely! Without question."
Before enrolling at YSN, Vanessa spent four years teaching various science classes at New Haven's Career High School, a long-time partner with YSN. Vanessa's involvement with her Career students exceeded classroom instruction. Approachable and sympathetic, Vanessa was one of few teachers whom students trusted with "very personal issues," especially health and sexuality.
These experiences and her long-standing interest in health care led Vanessa to contemplate a career change: "As a public school teacher, you can only go so far in helping students with [health] problems. I realized I wanted to do more to serve them... I began to research the roles and practices of midwives and nurse practitioners and felt like the philosophy clicked with my personality and goals." Vanessa applied to YSN and was accepted into the pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) track.
Having begun what she terms her "natural progression" into nursing, Vanessa hopes to integrate nursing practice into the school setting. As a PNP, she will be able to conduct more "candid discussions" about health and the body. "I can be more open for [students] as a nurse," Vanessa explains, "than I could as a teacher." Vanessa is also considering pursuing a doctorate in nursing education.
Not only does Vanessa speak positively about her experiences, those who describe her sing her praises. Fellow GEPN Elizabeth Burke, who worked alongside Vanessa in South Dakota: "She is caring, intelligent, well-organized, and truly has a gift in caring for others." Also "a great cook and a talented musician," Vanessa brings a diversity of talents and interests to the field of nursing. As Burke exclaims, "She rocks, period!"
During the 2003-04 academic year, Vanessa participated in a number of volunteer activities at Career High School, from leading clinical training sessions to providing mentorship for college bound Career seniors. "The students are always so glad to see Vanessa," said Minna Kaufman, and instructor in the Career High School Clinical Nursing Assistant track. "She and other YSN volunteers do so much to keep our students excited about careers in nursing."
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