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Media Relations Office:
Bart Graves, Media Relations Administrator
1601 W. Jefferson
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
(602) 542-3133
Nationally, May 6 - 12, 2005 is
celebrated as the National Nurses Week. Here in Arizona, it's a terrific
opportunity for all of us to recognize the care that our nursing staff provides
to the inmate population and that our occupational nurses give us.
The Arizona Department of Corrections is a flagship organization. This means we
call upon corrections professionals in every discipline to provide leadership
and deliver outstanding services. We count heavily on our nurses - Licensed
Practical Nurses, Registered Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses, Nursing Assistants, and
our Nursing Supervisors - to provide medical and mental health care around the
clock in keeping with community standards. We rely on them all for the counsel
they provide prisoners about living life healthy. We look to them to cover the
medical units, infirmaries, hospital wards and IPC, ready to address every
imaginable situation that can arise in an institutional setting. We expect our
co-workers to respond to difficult situations, often in hazardous locations. We
count on them to give bad news with grace to inmates and their families. Our
nursing staff does not let us down! Our colleagues steadfastly serve a
population with more exposures to infectious and contagious diseases and chronic
health and mental health care conditions than most health care professionals see
in other settings. And, we trust them to protect us all because we know that
they know: Their business is twofold - public health and public safety.
We also look to our occupational health nurses to ensure our health needs and
well-being are well attended. The department's occupational health nurses
contribute significantly to the identification and management of potential
health risks and they provide important communicable disease prevention services
for us. Our OHN professionals assist correctional managers with leave
administration and help correctional employees on medical leave with
return-to-work authorization. They are here to help all of us.
We prize all that you do and are proud that you serve the state as members of
the ADC team of correctional professionals.
Respectfully,
Dora Schriro
Director
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