Pictured are (from left to right): Donna C. Pressma, LCSW, president and chief executive officer, The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey; Christine Saltzman, BSN ’09, MSN ’13, secretary, Upsilon Rho Chapter; Holly Leahan, MSN, RN; Maritza Raimundi-Petroski, director, Maternal/Child Health, Family and Community Support Services, The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey; and Gary Fassler, BSN ’08, MSN ’11, treasurer, Upsilon Rho Chapter.
TRENTON, N.J. – Thomas Edison State University’s Upsilon Rho Chapter of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, recently made a $500 charitable donation to The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey (CHSofNJ).
The chapter allocated a portion of its membership dues to fund the group’s annual holiday giving effort. “The chapter felt strongly about supporting a local initiative. I have worked in the maternal child health arena for many years and knew of the work and success CHSofNJ has had with mothers and children in Trenton,” explained College alumna Christine Saltzman, BSN ’09, MSN, ’13, and secretary of Upsilon Rho.
The funds donated will help to provide additional programming and services for two of CHSofNJ’s Maternal/Child Health, Family and Community Support Services programs, CUNA and Body and Soul. CUNA is a prenatal health education and support program that addresses the unique cultural and linguistic needs of Latina women, predominantly Spanish-speaking recent immigrants. Body and Soul provides a holistic approach to prenatal health for pregnant women and women in their childbearing years through customized programming.
“The Upsilon Rho Chapter’s commitment to quality health and preventive care firmly aligns with CHSofNJ’s mission of saving children’s lives and building healthy families, and we are honored to have been selected as recipient of its holiday donation for our prenatal health education programs,” said Maritza I. Raimundi-Petroski, CHSofNJ’s director of Maternal/Child Health, Family and Community Support Services. “For decades, CHSofNJ has worked within our communities to improve birth outcomes for at-risk populations of Mercer and Ocean counties. We look forward to a strong partnership with Sigma Theta Tau and together improving public health.”
The Upsilon Rho Chapter is comprised of more than 200 Thomas Edison State University alumni who have demonstrated superior academic achievement, academic integrity and professional leadership potential. These students hold either bachelor’s or master’s degrees from the University’s W. Cary Edwards School of Nursing and must have maintained a minimum 3.0 or 3.5 GPA, respectively, on a 4.0 scale. In addition, students must be ranked in the top 35 percent of their graduating class to be considered for membership.
Vi-Anne Antrum, DNP