School Nurse

Gertrude F. Tierney Lavery, 79, of Cherry Hill, a longtime nurse at Cinnaminson High School known for her outgoing and take-charge attitude, died of liver cancer Wednesday, May 12, at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Though Mrs. Lavery's title was registered nurse, she took various other roles at the school: counselor, teacher, even emergency driver. "She was extremely accommodating to kids and went beyond what was expected of her," said teacher Al Sloan, who worked at the school all 26 years Mrs. Lavery was the nurse.

A school nurse has sued the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, contending that she was illegally assigned to homeroom and other duties in addition to her nursing job. According to the suit, Bonnie Spangler of Wayne, a nurse in the school district for the last six years, has been assigned to "morning duty" this school year and last in violation of the state Public School Code. Her morning duty involved monitoring the cafeteria at the Swarthmore-Rutledge Elementary School, where pupils await the start of the school day. Spangler's suit, filed Dec. 6, does not seek damages.

Rebecca Ellen Jones Alderfer, 79, of Hartsville in Bucks County, a retired school nurse known for her compassionate nature, died of lung cancer Sunday in Abington Memorial Hospital. After practicing nursing at the Abington hospital for several years in the 1940s, she earned a bachelor's degree in education from what was then West Chester State Teachers College and became a school nurse. "Thousands of schoolchildren felt her loving touch during her 20 years as a school nurse for the Central Bucks School District," said a son, David Alderfer.

Anna C. Heller, 88, a school nurse who gave three decades of service to Mount Holly schools, students and families, died Tuesday at the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in Vineland, where she lived. A 1926 graduate of the former Mount Holly High School, Mrs. Heller received her nursing degree from the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Philadelphia, and her school nursing permit from Trenton State College in 1935. She received a bachelor's degree in education from Rutgers University in 1947.

Jacqueline Rich Sauro, 79, of Moorestown, a longtime nurse at Cherry Hill High School East whose easygoing personality made her a favorite chaperone for class trips, died of lung cancer Friday, Nov. 12, at her home. Mrs. Sauro took her school nurse's job "to an entirely different level," said former Cherry Hill East principal James Gallagher, now the district's assistant superintendent. "She was a surrogate mother to a lot of the kids," he said. Students were often in her office seeking advice on more than just health, he said.

For 22 1/2 years, youngsters in the Norristown school system might just as well have had their mother in the school nurse's office. Until she retired in 1984, Jessie Woessner was in charge. And in addition to dispensing Band-Aids and throat lozenges, she took an active interest in their overall well-being, according to her daughter. "She cared for them as if they were her own," said Jessie Ann Moser of Allentown. Mrs. Woessner, who lived in East Norriton Township, died Friday at her home.

Aletta M. Crichton, 86, Pemberton Township's first school nurse and a strong advocate for the creation of special-education classes in the district, died last Friday at the Health Care Center at Cadbury, Cherry Hill. Mrs. Crichton retired in 1973, and in 1978, the school district paid tribute to her long service and dedication to students by naming a Browns Mills school - the Aletta M. Crichton School - in her honor. A Cherry Hill resident, Mrs. Crichton was a registered nurse who joined the Pemberton Township School District in 1950, serving all eight schools.

Mary Ann Sewell doesn't just dispense aspirin and Band-Aids. Sewell, the school nurse at Bok High in South Philadelphia, tends to 187 asthmatic teenagers. She treats insulin-dependent diabetics, kids with cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, and seizure disorders. As part of its latest round of budget cuts, the Philadelphia School District will lay off 141 employees, including 47 nurses, effective Saturday. Sewell and about 50 others gathered at district headquarters Wednesday to protest.

Marion Johnson Heitman, 80, a retired school nurse and former resident of Willow Grove and Horsham, died Wednesday at her home in Langhorne. Mrs. Heitman was born in Abington and graduated from Abington High School in 1933. She graduated from Abington Memorial Hospital's School of Nursing in 1938 and in 1963 earned a degree from what is now West Chester University. She resided for many years in Willow Grove and in Horsham before moving to Langhorne three years ago. In 1975, Mrs. Heitman retired after 18 years as a nurse for the Upper Moreland School District.

I read with dismay the article "Budget ax threatens school nurses" (Monday). How unfortunate that State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola and Jennifer Hoover-Vogel of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials were not better informed about the role of the certified school nurse before advocating a policy that would allow school districts to hire uncertified nurses. School nursing is a community health specialty. As pointed out by experts quoted in the article, it is ridiculous to suggest that just any nurse can with minimal training assume the responsibilities of a school nurse.

  The case gained international attention and became a rallying point for anti-bullying advocates. But investigators have found no evidence that a school-yard fight had anything to do with the death of sixth grader Bailey O'Neill, the Delaware County district attorney said Monday. The death was the result of epileptic seizures, District Attorney Jack Whelan said. He said his office did plan to file juvenile-level simple-assault charges. Whelan said an autopsy by Edwin Lieberman of the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office revealed "no physical finding of trauma or evidence that trauma played a role" in the boy's death on March 3 at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

ACTOR John Lithgow 's next role? Ballerina. Lithgow, the Tony Award-winning actor known for his time on sitcom "Third Rock," is the narrator of the Pennsylvania Ballet's performance of "Carnival of the Animals," running May 9-12 at the Academy of the Music. Lithgow collaborated with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon on the story of a little boy who hides in the Museum of Natural History and imagines all of his friends as animals. "It's a wonderful notion, being locked-in," Lithgow said, adding that when he films in museums, he'll often wander off so he can experience the exhibits in peace and quiet.

New Jersey ranks among the bottom states for school-breakfast participation. And when Garden State schools do serve breakfast, it's typically at the wrong time. That needs to change. Across the state, 525 school districts provide the most important meal of the day to low-income students who otherwise might not get breakfast. But most serve breakfast before the first classes begin, and many students who can't get to school that early start the day hungry. Their learning often suffers as a result.

SUSAN McGARRY had planned to spend Tuesday morning with her husband, Richard, taking pictures and celebrating the completion of her first Boston Marathon, the gold standard for runners all over the world. Instead, the Philadelphia couple returned home and spent the day like many Americans - thinking about the devastation of the terrorist attacks that killed three people and injured more than 170 - and pondering the "what ifs. " "The whole thing just seemed surreal. I felt more emotional [on Tuesday]

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why are so many public-school students needlessly going hungry? Only 35 percent of New Jersey's 471,714 children eligible for a free or reduced-price meal received breakfast at school last year. That's among the lowest participation rates in the country. New Jersey ranks 46th in the number of low-income students who get breakfast at school. Pennsylvania is 36th. Nationally, only about 50 percent of students in the reduced or free lunch program eat a school breakfast.

Mary P. Nelson, 76, of Gladwyne, longtime dean of academic affairs for the Roxborough Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, died Sunday, Jan. 6, at Lankenau Hospital of multiple myeloma. For 47 years, Dr. Nelson worked at Roxborough Memorial, culminating in the position of a nursing school dean. She also served on the facility's board of directors. Her leadership yielded many years in which all of the nursing students who took the licensing examination passed, her family said. Mary Patricia Kovatch was born in McAdoo, Schuylkill County.

Ethel Louise Ciavarelli, 96, who helped her husband in the family funeral-home business in Conshohocken while also working as a nurse, died of a heart ailment Sunday, Dec. 30, at Regina Nursing Center in Norristown. Born in Philadelphia, she moved at 5 to Barnegat, N.J. She graduated from Barnegat High School, then trained as a registered nurse at Women's Homeopathic Hospital in Philadelphia. Mrs. Ciavarelli supervised the hospital's pediatric department for a year, then worked for an insurance company as a visiting nurse in Roxborough, Manayunk, and East Falls.

Coming over the holiday break to about a third of Philadelphia high schools: clear plastic dispensers chock-full of free condoms. The dispensers will be placed in the 22 high schools whose students had the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and condoms will be available to any student - so long as their parents did not sign a form opting them out of the program. It's a pilot designed to address "an epidemic of sexually transmitted disease in adolescents in Philadelphia," said Donald F. Schwarz, the deputy mayor for health and opportunity.

Joan Ulmer Bretschneider, 69, of Germantown, who started out as a school nurse and worked to upgrade the nursing profession, died Friday, Dec. 14, in her sleep of unknown causes at her home. Between 1999 and 2008, when she retired, Mrs. Bretschneider worked at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Her last position was director of education and lifelong learning. For 18 years before that, she was a nursing administrator at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in charge of all departments relating to women and children.

THOMAS EFFERSON University Hospital staff members were puzzled when a Chinese woman who had given birth there wouldn't touch the hospital food. Hospitals, of course, are not famous for gourmet food offerings, but the woman's refusal to eat wasn't because the food was unappetizing. She even turned down Jell-O, juices and salads. Her heritage had taught her that these foods contain "yin," or cold energy, and impede the healing process. When her husband brought her a meal of noodles and rabbit, she dug right in. Joan Ulmer Bretschneider, director of Jefferson's Chinese Community Partnership Program, understood very well what was going on. Jefferson had always made allowances for cultural differences among its patients, but not well enough to suit Bretschneider.