business briefs 

Jersey Central Power & Light is offering education grants of up to $500 for creative classroom projects planned for the 2012-13 school year. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Classroom Grants are awarded for creative individual classroom projects for grades pre-kindergarten through 12. The grants are available to educators and youth group leaders in communities served by FirstEnergy electric operating companies, or in communities where the company has generating plants or does business. STEM grant applications must be submitted by Sept. 17. The application and more information about grant criteria is available on FirstEnergy’s website: www.firstenergycorp.com/community/ education/educational_ grants.html. Grants will be awarded based on the recommendations of the FirstEnergy Education Advisory Council. Winners will be notified by Oct. 8.

The Jersey Shore Association for Human Resources will host “A Day of HR Learning” from 8-10 a.m. Sept. 13 at the Jumping Brook Country Club, Neptune. The interactive speed-learning workshop, hosted by a panel of human resources experts, will focus on six key areas of human resources knowledge. A question-andanswer period will follow. The registration fee and a full buffet breakfast is $25 for JSAHR members; $40 for nonmembers; and an additional $5 for walk-ins. To register, call Kathi Evans at 732-270-5204.

Colleen Nelson of Howell was awarded the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group Marcia Granucci Award for visionary leadership in nursing. The award is presented every year to a registered nurse who possesses a powerful vision of all that community based nursing can accomplish among highly vulnerable populations.

Nelson, a registered nurse with VNA Health Group for more than 28 years, is the manager of VNA’s maternal child home visitation programs. She is the first and only manager of VNA Health Group’s Healthy Families and Nurse-Family Partnership and has been instrumental in the growth of both programs.

CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, as been recognized as one of the nation’s “Most Wired” health care organizations for the third year in a row by an annual survey conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association (AHA).

It is one of only 215 health care organizations in the country to be named “Most Wired.” The designation recognizes healthcare organizations that have successfully adopted information technology (IT) in four critical areas: infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and care continuum.

CentraState has invested nearly $20-million in health IT over the past 12 years as part of its ongoing commitment to enhance patient safety and create more efficient care processes, according to the press release.

The Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study is a joint project of the American Hospital Association, Hospital & Health Networks, McKesson Corporation and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.