Health Occupations Center Instructors/Lee Yonemura

Ms. Yonemura began her nursing career as a Certified Nurse’s Assistant in the early 1990’s. Although she loved working as an assistant she wasn’t satisfied with the limitations of that position. She enrolled in Wood County Licensed Vocational Nursing School in 1996, where she served as class president and graduated in 1997 as class valedictorian. She was immediately hired as an LVN on a Skilled Nursing Unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Virginia. She worked there for two years, on the SNU and the telemetry unit. At the same time, she was also attending West Virginia University; she graduated in December 1999 with a Registered Nursing degree.

After graduation, Ms. Yonemura moved to Wilmington, Delaware and began working as a Pediatric office nurse for a group of Pediatrician’s at the highly esteemed Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children. After a year of service, she moved to San Diego and began working for a group of Pediatricians affiliated with Children’s Hospital San Diego. She continues to work at Children’s as a phone triage nurse.

In August 2006, Ms. Yonemura began working for HOC as a clinical instructor. Because of her great passion for nursing and education, she had always aspired to become a nursing instructor and finds clinical instruction to be immensely fulfilling. She is also a clinical instructor for the Registered Nursing students at Grossmont College’s Welcome Back Program, which assists foreign health professionals to transition into healthcare in the United States and gives them the opportunity to earn their Associate Degree in Nursing. She instructs these students in Pediatrics and Medical/Surgical clinicals.

Ms. Yonemura is continuing her own nursing education. She will receive her baccalaureate degree in nursing in early 2008 after which, she will immediately begin working on her masters degree in nursing. Her goal is to instruct nursing students in both clinical and classroom. She feels that every nurse should continue on in their nursing education. According to Ms. Yonemura, “As healthcare providers it is our responsibility to ensure each patient receives the highest quality of care.”