University of Miami Heartbeat Magazine - Spring 2017 When the father walked into the courtroom, Judge Valerie Manno Schurr, B.S.N. ’88, J.D. ’92, saw that his gait was off. When he spoke, she noted his garbled speech. Manno-Schurr regularly uses the nursing education she acquired at the University of Miami (UM) School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS) to help her carry out her responsibilities as a Miami-Dade County circuit court judge. "When nurses interview patients, we assess how they walk and talk, and look at their affect,” she says. "When people come into court, I observe them like a nurse does. It’s just automatic."
These nursing observation skills have proven critical to Manno Schurr as a judge, especially when reading medical records connected to court cases, interpreting medical expert witness testimony, and meting out justice. Currently in the court’s Family Division, Manno Schurr handles a lot of divorce and child custody cases, which sometimes involve assessing health care issues in children or parents. When she recognized a neurological issue in the litigant with the irregular gait and speech, Manno Schurr immediately inquired, "Are you on medication?" This allowed her to uncover more about the situation and determine whether the man was medically capable of being a full-time parent. "I don’t know if a judge without the experience I have as a nurse would have noticed what I picked up on," says Manno Schurr., who came to the SONHS with an R.N. degree from Miami-Dade College and seven years of hospital nursing experience. She was awarded a grant that, at the time, funded R.N.s to pursue their B.S.N. degrees at UM. Until then, a higher degree was not on the horizon. Her mother died when she was 5-years-old, leaving her father to raise Manno Schurr and her six siblings." Earning a B.S.N. from the University of Miami was a huge accomplishment, personally and professionally. It was especially exciting that I graduated as a Sigma Theta Tau, honor society of nursing inductee," she says. "My whole family came to see me graduate." Seeing many fellow B.S.N. graduates pursue advanced degrees opened Manno Schurr’s eyes to her own potential. She graduated from UM’s School of Law in 1992 and worked for a law firm before starting her own practice with her husband-lawyer, Kenneth Schurr. They were also blessed with a daughter, Dori. After pleading cases to judges for more than a decade, Manno Schurr started dreaming about sitting behind the bench. In 2006, she was elected circuit court judge, and served in the civil, criminal, and juvenile courts. She is now an associate administrative judge of the family division. Looking forward, Manno Schurr is setting new goals, contemplating becoming a nursing professor, and pursuing a master’s in liberal arts. "I’m continually thinking about what I want to do in the future. That’s what my UM education did for me. I’m on a journey, and I always have something more in my mind to reach for." Manno Schurr encourages SONHS students and alumni to recognize that a nursing degree is a great foundation. "You can do anything," she says. About Hearbeat Heartbeat magazine is the official alumni publication of the School of Nursing and Health Studies. It is published bi-annually to highlight the achievements of our faculty, alumni and students. Heartbeat provides feature articles on past, present and future initiatives and communicates essential information for alumni, parents, donors, corporations, foundations and grant supporters so all may stay abreast of the many achievements of those associated with the School. Class Notes, Faculty Features and Alumni/Student Spotlights are three popular sections of the magazine. http://news.miami.edu/sonhs/publications/heartbeat/index.html
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