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A candidate to represent Haverhill’s Ward 6 on the School Committee seeks to use her nursing experience to bolster student health care.
Yonnie Collins becomes the latest entrant to seek a seat this fall under the city’s new, mostly ward-based election system.
“I was raised a Hillie since kindergarten and I am passionate about seeing the future of Haverhill thrive! I am a nurse by profession with a zeal for holistic wellness using my bachelor’s in Exercise Physiology and Nursing. While completing my master’s as a nurse practitioner, I realized how critical education is to long-term health and longevity. Healthy Haverhill Hillies means empowering students through education,” Collins tells WHAV.
She acknowledges Haverhill schools provide students with some mental health services, but she says more effort is required to bring these services to the attention of students who need them. “I have tried asking around so I know they exist, but access to it could use improvement. This is where I would work with the board to make these resources more available,” she said.
Collins said she currently works at Lowell General Hospital at the Saints Campus and Holy Family in Haverhill.
Among her other concerns is, what she calls, “slow acknowledgement” of problems. “Everything cannot realistically get fixed overnight, but my goal when I become a board member is to be more open and honest with Haverhill students and parents about the progress of all of these goals,” she says.
Her first bachelor’s degree is in Exercise science and masters are from UMass Lowell. Her second bachelor’s is in Nursing is from MGH Institute of Health Professions.
Collins entered kindergarten at the William H. Moody School, moved on to the John C. Tilton, Silver Hill and an Dr. Albert B. Consentino Schools and graduated from Haverhill High in 2014.