Jennifer Lakosil at the Cochise College Downtown Center.
Jennifer Lakosil, dean of Allied Health and Nursing at Cochise College, was one of fifty nurses in Southern Arizona to receive the Fifty Fabulously Nurses award.
The award is given annually by the Tucson Nurses Week Foundation and aims to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding nurses who have significantly contributed to their community’s health and wellbeing within and outside of the workplace.
Three hundred other nurses in the surrounding area were nominated for the award.
Lakosil was nominated by her daughter, Natalie Lakosil, a law student and one-time reporter living in San Francisco.
“I nominated her because I just grew up watching her go down to Mexico providing care for all of the handicapped kids and all of the elderly,” Natalie said. “One of my first childhood memories was going with her to see one of her patients named Arthur who was severely handicapped. To make it easier on the family, she would make home visits for Arthur. She has always done things like that.”
Along with her volunteer work in Mexico and being employed as a pediatric nurse practitioner in Cochise County for over twenty years, Jennifer also volunteered locally at Echoing Hope Ranch, a nonprofit that cares for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Her work as a nurse practitioner focused primarily on children with developmental disabilities before she earned a master’s degree in nursing education and switched her focus to students at Cochise College. Jennifer first came to the college as a nurse administrator and climbed up the career ladder as director and then eventually, dean of Nursing and Allied Health.
“One of the reasons that I joined the college is because [Cochise College] is service driven. I like to give back to the community. I would always volunteer in Mexico, but I thought that this job at the college supports more service. You have more of an opportunity to be impactful,” the dean said.
Jennifer has seen eleven nursing cohorts graduate as an administrator for the college, nine as a director and two nursing cohorts as a dean. She has been associated with the college as either associate faculty or as an administrator for seventeen years and has fourteen years of service to Cochise County.
“Over eighty percent of the nurses in Cochise County are Cochise College graduates, and it feels great seeing nursing students graduate and giving back to the community,” said Jennifer.
The Cochise College school of nursing was ranked as the #1 nursing school in Arizona by accredited schools online. Cochise College Nursing Program offers expert instruction, modern learning laboratories and a wide variety of clinical experience in hospitals and health care agencies.
The Tucson Nurses Week Foundation began in July 1994 when a group of Tucson nurse leaders came together to pursue a vision for a citywide celebration of Nurses Week. The goals of the Foundation and the Nurses Week events are to enhance education and research among Tucson-area Nurses and to celebrate excellence by recognizing Nurses in a manner commensurate with the roles Nurses play in the health of the community. This recognition process seeks Nurses in all settings and all types of Nursing practice.