• My name is Denise Puma and I began my nursing career in 1977 after graduating from Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ. My initial work experience was at Hackensack Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ. on a Medical-Surgical floor specializing in Diabetes. I then transferred into Obstetrics at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ and eventually transferred into the Post Anesthesia Room where I gained most of my nursing experience.  After beginning a family, I decided to take a hiatus from nursing and raise my 3 daughters. Shortly after relocating to Barnegat, NJ in 1995, I was offered the opportunity to become a school nurse substitute @ Southern Regional High School and it was that wonderful experience that inspired me to return to college part-time @ night for 7 very long years so that I could continue my nursing career.  In January, 1998 I began working for the Barnegat School District as a part-time nurse at the Cecil S. Collins Elementary School and after two years I was transferred to Russell O. Brackman Middle School to be the full-time School Nurse. In 2004 I graduated Cum Summa Laude from Stockton College with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and became the Certified School Nurse at Barnegat High School when it first opened. The first freshman class at the high school were the students that I had begun my career with, back when they were in 3rd grade. I watched them grow from children into young adults nurturing the relationships which we ad formed over the years until they graduated.