Each year, the Massachusetts Adult Immunization Conference planning committee selects the Adult Immunization Champion Award winner based on a nomination and review process. The review committee looks for nominees who have shown leadership, innovation, collaboration, advocacy, and initiative in adult immunization. We are pleased to announce this year’s awardee, Jessica Prince, MSN, RN.
Jessica Prince, MSN, RN is the Chief Nursing Officer of the Greater New Bedford Health Center (GNBCHC). Described as a “tireless advocate for adult immunization both within the health center and in the community at large,” Ms. Prince is responsible for many initiatives encouraging adult immunization. She developed and implemented standing orders at the health center, she sets up friendly competitions amongst the nurses to increase vaccination rates, and she runs multiple flu clinics each flu season for health center patients. Ms. Prince also works with health center staff to identify patients due for vaccines and designs outreach efforts to get patients back into the clinic to be vaccinated.
Beyond the health center’s walls, Ms. Prince collaborates with the local hospital supplying a van with vaccines to administer in the community. She also has partnered with the local board of health and the New Bedford Immigration Assistance Center to provide immunizations to adults who might not otherwise have access.
Ms. Prince received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2008 and a Masters in Nursing from Sacred Heart University in 2012. She started her nursing career as a staff nurse on a medical-surgical unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford. Ms. Prince began work in community nursing after completing her Master’s degree and was hired as an Infectious Disease Registered Nurse in 2012 at GNBCHC. In 2014, Ms. Prince joined the leadership team at GNBCHC as the Nursing Manager and has since been promoted to the Chief Nursing and Clinical Operations Officer.