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March 18, 2005
La Vone M. Sopher, R.N., M.S.N., F.N.P., will be the keynote speaker when the Morningside College Nursing Education Department and the Morningside Student Nurses Association hold their 23rd annual Maud Adams Research Day from 8 a.m. to noon on Thursday, April 7, at the Olsen Student Center and the Lincoln Center.
Sopher, a 1979 Morningside graduate, has been named the 2005 Morningside Nursing Alumnus of the Year. This award is presented for commitment to nursing and outstanding leadership in the profession.
Sopher, a family nurse practitioner at Family Health Care of Siouxland, Indian Hills Clinic in Sioux City, will present her address “Evidence-Based Practice: Meeting the Challenges for Optimal Outcomes” at 8:30 a.m. in the Randolph Room of the Olsen Student Center.
 The Nursing Alumni Scholarship will be presented in Sopher’s honor to Amy Salton of Webb, Iowa, during the opening address. Salton is a senior at Laurens-Marathon High School in Laurens, Iowa. Salton plans to enroll at Morningside this fall to pursue a bachelor of science in nursing degree. The scholarship is presented to a student who shows potential for outstanding professionalism in nursing.
A program that will feature interactive experiences for high school students to learn about the nursing profession will be held from 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Nursing Learning Laboratory in the Hindman-Hobbs Center.
Throughout the day, Morningside nursing students will present their research utilization projects on topics such as increasing positive patient outcomes through nurse staffing, increasing cultural competence among baccalaureate student nurses, optimizing a mentorship program for new graduates, and preventing burn out among nurses. The presentations will take place in the Randolph Room, the Hickman Dining Room, and the Maud Adams Conference Room in the Olsen Student Center and Room 101 and the UPS Auditorium of the Lincoln Center.
Poster presentations prepared by nurses from the community will also be on display.
Sopher joined Family Healthcare of Siouxland in 1996. She was previously a nurse practitioner and clinic manager at Grandview Occupational Health in South Sioux City, Neb.; a family nurse practitioner at Ridgeview Family Practice and Riverside Family Practice in Sioux City; an associate professor of nursing at Morningside College; and a staff nurse in the Emergency/Outpatient Department at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Sioux City.
She is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Iowa Nurse Practitioner Society, American Nurses’ Association (ANA), and the Iowa Nurses’ Association (INA). She served as president of the INA from 1999 to 2003. Sopher was honored as the Northwest Region Nurse of the Year in 2002 and is a past president of the Siouxland Chapter of the American Red Cross. Her article “Crash of Flight 232: An Emergency Care Perspective” was published in the 1990 Journal of Emergency Nursing.
Sopher received a master of science in nursing degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1982 and completed the post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner Program from South Dakota State University in 1994.
The nursing research day, started in 1983 as a tribute to the late Maud Adams, was created to feature the work of students and to provide a mechanism to promote
professional development. Adams, a former chair of the Morningside nursing department,
was an instrumental leader in the early days of the department of nursing education. Before she came to Morningside, Adams served as a staff nurse, instructor, and administrator in various public health agencies and nursing programs.
For additional information, contact the Morningside College nursing education department at 712-274-5156.
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