Monica Nijoka, BSN, MHA, has been appointed to the Louisiana Emergency Response Network Board (LERN). She was nominated for a second term by the State Board of Nursing and was appointed by former Governor John Bel Edwards.
Nijoka received a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from Southeastern University in Hammond, and a Master of Health Administration from the University of St Francis. She began her nursing career at Baton Rouge General Medical Center and steadily grew in responsibility until she became the vice-president/chief nursing officer. Following BRGMC, she consulted from Maine to California to insure hospitals followed the Joint Commission and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospital Standards, before returning to Baton Rouge to be the chief nursing officer at the Neuromedical Surgical Hospital. She then returned to BRGMC as the VP/CNO. Today she consults and is a clinical instructor for FRANU’s School of Nursing.
“LERN is excited to have Monica appointed to the LERN Board, and we look forward to working together as we continue our mission to defend the public health, safety, and welfare of Louisianans from unnecessary deaths and morbidity due to trauma and time-sensitive illness,” said Paige Hargrove, BSN, RN, LERN executive director.
The Louisiana Emergency Response Network (LERN) is an agency of state government created by the Louisiana Legislature in 2004 with a 28-member governing board and is charged with the responsibility of developing and maintaining a statewide system of care coordination for patients suddenly stricken by serious traumatic injury or time-sensitive illness (such as heart attack and stroke). It is a system also designated to serve as a vital healthcare resource in the face of larger scale emergencies and natural disasters.