LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Tammy Franklin was nominated by her colleague, Christine Mahoney.

Ms. Franklin has been with Mesa Unified School District for six years. In that time, she has proven to be an advocate and leader in the field of school nursing. Her role as the school nurse in a Title I school with a diverse population calls for ingenuity and flexibility in care, resources, and approach. Ms. Franklin advocates for her students and families by making sure they can take advantage of all community and district-based resources that become available to them.

In addition to the day-to-day care she provides to her students, families, and staff, she also mentors student nurses and shares her knowledge and experience by being a preceptor to newly hired nurses. She is always willing to initiate trials of new ideas that are passed on from Maricopa County, ADE, and ADHS that have the potential of improving care or access to care. Her school was one of the first schools to utilize the online Immunization exemption trial that is being run by ADHS. She jumped at the opportunity to utilize Binax testing kits within her school to assist in the identification of COVID +/- student and or staff. Recently, she volunteered for a three hour filming session for Eyes on Learning and the ADHS Sensory department. The filming involved her performing vision screenings on children and utilizing different techniques and tools, with the ultimate goal of assisting all nurses in Arizona with getting a training opportunity through what will hopefully be an online training tool.

"As busy as Tammy is, she is always the first to volunteer or jump in when it comes to opportunities that could improve school nursing and access to care and resources for our kids. She has a positive, caring, and empathetic nature and approaches all endeavors in this manner. She is an asset to her school, our district, and school nursing as a whole. We would love to recognize her, not just for her every day accomplishments, but for everything she does to better the profession of school nursing in Arizona. We can't say enough about how deserving this wonderful lady is of this award," said Mahoney.