LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Jessica Varela was nominated by her colleague, Rebecca Madrid.

"Ms. Varela is one of the most positive, joyous spirits I have had the pleasure to work with in all of my 20 years of experience working in the field of school nursing," said Madrid.

When El Paso, Texas was hit hard with COVID-19 in March 2020, Ms. Varela made herself available with the many projects her school district was implementing to help mitigate the spread and keep the schools and community safe. She used her knowledge as a nurse expert to help spearhead the development of COVID-19 protocols and health education videos for SISD and its community. Ms. Varela volunteered to lead and guide her colleagues in partnership with Goodside Telehealth to conduct COVID-19 testing for her school district's employees and the El Paso community.

Ms. Varela also worked with a team of SISD nurses to develop COVID-19 contact tracing protocols for the school's athletic teams. These protocols would help guide coaches in the event that an athlete was found to be positive for COVID. SISD nurses were on call during the games throughout the week and weekends.

She did not hesitate to help on the weekends with the administering of COVID-19 vaccines for SISD employees and community members. She put everyone at ease by answering questions and educating those receiving the vaccine for the first time.

Ms. Varela is known to be very knowledgeable with technology. She took the lead with the new school nurse documentation software to help SISD nurses navigate through the new software program via Teams meetings. She was very patient in helping nurses troubleshoot throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Her positive energy is transparent and contagious to those whom she encounters throughout her working days: her students, employees, nursing colleagues, and members of her community. One can't help but feed off her bubbly personality and the warmth of her giving heart," said Madrid.