Mesquite ISD school nurse makes list of top 100 nurses

Pam Sherrill was recently named as one of DFW’s Great 100 Nurses, which honors nurses for their work as role models, leaders, community servants and caregivers who have made significant contributions to the profession.

Sherrill has worked in school nursing for 26 years. But the past year has been unlike any other. As the district’s nurse facilitator, Sherrill trains other school nurses in policies and procedures, like vision testing, screening for scoliosis, and more recently, quarantining and contact tracing for COVID-19.

And this is the first time a school nurse has made the list since 2010 and the first time ever for Mesquite ISD.

“I was incredibly humbled,” Sherrill said. “I feel like I represent all school nurses who have worked so hard this year, coming in early, staying late, navigating a difficult time.”

These days, more medically fragile students attend school than in the past, when those students might have been home or hospital-bound, Sherrill said. That means school nurses must know how to care for a wider range of issues, such as tracheostomy care or seizure response.

Mesquite’s Florence Black Elementary School nurse Darlene Wade nominated Sherrill for DFW’s Great 100 Nurses for her expert managing of changing protocols and wealth of knowledge.

“She’s the whole package. She’s humble, extremely smart and kind,” Wade said. “If she doesn’t have an answer for you, she knows where to find it.”