Granby School Health Services Supervisor Jodi French, RN, has been named the Farmington Valley Visiting Nurse Association’s Nightingale Nurse of the Year 2021.
Once a year, this highest of nursing honors is presented to a small, select group of nurses whose practice and expertise stand above others.
The Nightingale for Nursing Excellence Award is granted and bestowed upon nurses in the state who have been nominated, presented to a committee and voted on for evidence of excellence in practice. These nurses must demonstrate by experience, achievements that set the practice and profession of nursing to new health and wellness levels for the people they serve.
The Nightingale honors practitioners who develop groundbreaking achievements, often setting new healthcare standards that enable people to achieve healthy living, even during an international pandemic. This year has been unprecedented, and all healthcare workers have shown remarkable resiliency.
“Jodi has led the Granby School health services as a model of meeting the challenge. Through her work, Granby Public Schools was the first in the State of Connecticut to enable in-person learning, and it has done so throughout this entire school year,” stated Nancy Scheetz, CEO of the Farmington Valley VNA.
“From the very beginning of the state-mandated school closure last school year, Jodi started working on what needed to happen to change this for the community that she serves.
She worked with school leaders and the Governor’s task force to develop protocols, establish clinical best practices and safety measures that could be implemented both before the reopening and during a successful school season. Jodi educated the engineering and custodial staff on safely and properly working with disinfectants and designing safety protocols to prepare schools. She created and implemented the training needed for teachers and keeping the health of students, teachers, and staff as her number one priority,” Scheetz said.
“The Town of Granby can truly thank Jodi French for the continuity of education this past year during the epidemic. Her dedication and professional nursing and management skills have been essential in providing a safe environment for the students and staff,” concludedScheetz.
French received her bachelor of science in nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her BA in biology from Hartwick College. She began her career in the Granby school system in 2011 as a substitute per diem school nurse with the Farmington Valley Visiting Nurse Association that supplies the Granby Schools nursing staff. Her skills were recognized, and she became the supervisor at the end of that academic year.