2012 PRESIDENT
Liz is a Certified Nurse Life Care Planner (CNLCP) and Case Manager (CCM) in her own consulting practice in San Diego County. She has a BSN from Biola College (University) graduating in 1981 with honors. She has been a nurse for 30 years! Her clinical background includes home health, critical care, cardiac care, and case management. She currently practices nursing by preparing life care plans for individuals with various injuries in the civil litigation environment: testifying for both plaintiff and defense. She has about 25 years of testimony experience. She also prepares care plans for persons injured by vaccines, who seek compensation for their injuries through the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Liz is a member of NANDA, the North American Nursing Diagnoses Association and AANLCP (American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners) where she served 5 years on the Certification Board for the CNLCP during it's formative years. She has been a member of AALNC San Diego since 1998 and a San Diego Chapter Board Member since 2009. She served as the Website Chairperson in 2011.
cnlcpnurse@gmail.com
2012 PAST PRESIDENT
Karen Harmon, R.NC-OB., M.S.N., C.N.S.
Karen has been in the nursing profession for 23 years and currently is the Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist on the Perinatal Special Care Unit at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns here in San Diego. Prior to this position, Karen was the Clinical Nurse Specialist in Labor & Delivery and High Risk Obstetrics at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Diego. Karen has functioned in a variety of roles over her career from staff nurse, to charge nurse, to nurse manager, clinical instructor for SDSU, and now Clinical Nurse Specialist. Her primary passion and focus has been in the area of fetal monitoring and authored chapter revisions in the 2009 edition of AWHONN’s Fetal Heart Monitoring textbook. She has been active as a Legal Nurse Consultant and testifying expert for over 8 years, and has been an active and participative member of the San Diego Chapter of Legal Nurse Consultants. karenharmonmedlegal@yahoo.com
Laura has been a Registered Nurse since 1990 and a licensed Respiratory Therapist since 1983. Laura’s nursing experience includes ICU, ER, Med-Surg, nursing homes and home health. Laura has functioned in a variety of roles over her career from staff nurse to charge nurse and house supervisor. She has also taught multiple cardiopulmonary educational classes as well as BLS and ACLS. She has been active in more than 500 medical related cases as either a Legal Nurse Consultant, Expert Witness or Life Care Planner since 1998 and she has testified in either trial, deposition or arbitration more than 150 times. She is a member of the San Diego chapter of Legal Nurse Consultants and she has taught multiple classes at the chapter's educational meetings. medi-legal@cox.net
2012 TREASURER,
Cary Joel, R.N., M.S.N., C.L.N.C.
Cary Joel graduated from Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing in 1980, back when they used to serve tea on Thursday afternoon. The majority of her experience has been in Med/Surg and ICU and has worked in hospitals from Washington DC to San Francisco. Her education includes a BSN from George Mason University in Virginia and MSN from Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, California. Cary received her certification in legal nurse consulting in 2006 and has been utilizing her skills in the automobile insurance world. She is inspired by this chapter of AALNC and is looking forward to actively contributing to its continued success.
czjlaw1@yahoo.com
2012 TREASURER-ELECT,
Kay L. O'Malley, R.N., L.N.C., C.C.R.N.
Kay has been a licensed Registered Nurse since 1998. The majority of her clinical experience is in the adult Intensive Care Unit working in both Medical and Surgical areas with cardiac, thoracic and neurological patients at Sharp Hospital in Chula Vista. Kay has lengthy experience in the Cardiac catheterization and interventional units. In the Intensive Care Unit she is active member and leader of the ICU Clinical Practice Committee, Rapid Response Team and Core Charge Nurse Group. Kay participates in recruiting and is currently training new nurses to work in the ICU setting.
Kay completed the online self-paced LNC course through the national chapter for AALNC in 2009. She recently participated in the mentoring program though our chapter and has experience in independent medical exams and chronological summaries.
Current professional memberships include AALNC, AACN. kayomalley@cox.net
2012 SECRETARY
Connie has worked in the hospital setting for 36 years, graduating from Swedish Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis, MN. She worked the first 15 years in med/surg, then completed the Grossmont College ICU certification course in 1988 and has been working in critical care at Alvarado Hospital since then.
She has also cross-trained and worked part time in NICU and interventional radiology. Connie is married to a middle school teacher and has two sons, age 18 and 14. For fun, she sings bass with the San Diego Sweet Adeline chorus and just came back from Honolulu where the chorus placed 7th internationally.
This chapter of AALNC has been so valuable to me in the form of mentors, contacts and education that I am anxious to contribute to this dynamic group of professionals.
cpaine@cox.net
2012 DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Marsha has been an RN since 1993. The majority of her experience has been in the NICU but also includes experience in PICU, pediatrics, adolescents, mother/baby, pediatric home health and the emergency department. She received her advanced nursing certification in the NICU in 2010. She spent three years as a clinical supervisor in a thirty six bed level III NICU. She obtained her legal nurse consulting certification in April 2007 and started her own independent consulting firm, Our Legal Nurse Consultants, LLC. She works with both plaintiff and defense attorneys, primarily in the areas of medical malpractice, personal injury, and product liability cases. She is a testifying expert in the NICU realm only. She has been a certified CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) and NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation Program) instructor for the last fourteen years. Professional memberships include: American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) both locally and nationally (She currently serves on the local board as the marketing chair and a director at large), National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN), American Nurses Association (ANA), California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), and the American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFE).
2012 DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Christina Sanders has been a registered nurse since 1998 and has worked as a nurse practitioner for more than 10 years. She started her nursing career in the emergency department at Johns Hopkins Hospital while working towards her Masters degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. After completing her Masters in 2000, she began practicing as an adult nurse practitioner specializing in cardiology with a large private practice group in New Jersey. Since 2004, Christina has been working at Scripps Clinic in outpatient cardiology. Christina started her independent legal nurse consulting practice in 2007 and expanded her consulting business by starting Vera Juris in 2011. Her consulting includes both plaintiff and defense cases and she is a testifying expert for cases involving nurse practitioners. Christina has been a member of the AALNC-San Diego Chapter since 2006 and has served on the chapter's board since 2009.
christina.sanders@verajuris.com
2012 DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Marilyn has been a Nurse for over 30 years. She has a background in professional development at Scripps and ALS (Advanced Life Support) Nursing in the Neonatal ICU at Scripps Mercy Chula Vista. She has been a CLNC and member of the SDAALNC for 3 years. Education includes an MS from USD and BSN from CSU.
mw@medlinelegalnurse.com
