Health Board Winner Not a Nurse as Claimed : Politics: Critics are trying to nullify the Poway woman’s victory, saying the home health aide gave herself an unfair advantage.

A Poway woman elected to the Palomar Pomerado Health System board of directors in last Tuesday’s election listed herself as a nurse, but never has been registered or licensed as one.

Nancy H. Scofield, who placed second in a field of 12 candidates for four seats, listed herself as a “nurse/community volunteer” and insists that because she has worked as an aide in the medical field, that she has in a sense been a nurse.

Opponents in the race and current board members say that the misleading listing gave Scofield an unfair boost, and that she should lose her seat.

Scofield said she completed a six-month course in nursing assistance and physical therapy at Merric College in San Diego and was certified by the state of California as a home health aide.

But that’s a long way from being a nurse, said Maureen Anderson, spokeswoman for the California Nurse’s Assn.

“For home and health aides, there’s no licensing and no formal education required, and there are no technical skills or managerial skills involved,” Anderson said.

Scofield, 42, conceded that her experience has been limited to changing linen, preparing food and providing companionship, mostly for the terminally ill in a hospice-type situation.

“On one level, I have been a nurse. When my patients called for me, they called me a ‘nurse,’ because that’s what I did, I nursed them back to health,” Scofield said.

“I never meant in any way to deceive the public, never. I really strongly hope that if anyone thought that I indicated that I was any more than a plain old practical nurse, I’m sorry. I never meant that.”

Scofield, however, intends to keep her four-year position on the board of directors, and, for now at least, no one is quite sure what to do about it.

“I don’t think that that has ever happened,” said Melissa Warren, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections.

Before the election, the designations can be challenged, Warren said. But she is unaware of any process for making the challenge after the election, or of anyone wanting to do so before now.

George Root, attorney for the hospital district, said the district is not in a position to take action.

“The district really can’t do anything. If there is to be a challenge, it would be by an individual, a candidate or the district attorney,” Root said, adding that the secretary of state, the registrar of voters, the county district attorney, the state attorney general and the Fair Political Practices Commission all have been notified.

The election code states that “Neither the Secretary of State nor any other election official (registrar of voters) shall accept a designation which . . . would mislead a voter.”

The election code further states the procedures under which designations may be changed before a general election, but not afterward.

“The response of those agencies contacted has been that they would have to look into it,” Root said.

But others are more anxious to see something get done.

“I think it’s ludicrous, it’s crazy,” said Loren Belker, who finished in fifth place in the race for four seats. “I find the fact that nobody wants to do anything as absolutely ridiculous.

“I don’t want to get into this sour grapes thing. If I lost, I can handle that, but I think I lost for the wrong reasons,” said Belker, a retired businessman.

Members of the board agree with Belker, saying that the designation of “nurse” or “doctor” would significantly help any candidate for a hospital board.

“My personal opinion is that I do not think that she would have been elected” without the nurse designation, said Evelyn Madison, a member of the board.

Other board members echoed Madison’s sentiment.

“People that are physicians or nurses gain a significant advantage in the number of votes that they are given for board of directors for a hospital district just by virtue of the fact that they are in that field,” said Edward Lyon, a board member for 28 years.

“There has never been a doctor that has run for the board or a nurse, to my knowledge, that has not been elected,” said Lyon, who owns a men’s clothing store in Escondido.

Lyon said there is little Scofield could do but resign.

“What else could she do that would make any difference?” Lyon said.

Only two of the seven currently sitting members of the board of directors are in the medical professions.

Scofield said the designation “community volunteer” probably helped her more in her campaign than “nurse” did, and that she would have gotten elected anyway.

“I think ‘community volunteer’ was my strongest point, and that’s the feedback that I’m getting from people who didn’t know anything else about me,” Scofield said.

“All of my statements and all of my platforms would have been the same,” Scofield said. “In retrospect, though, maybe I wouldn’t have used ‘nurse’ at all.”

But Belker said that something must be done about the situation.

“If she gets by with this, two years from now, when three seats are up, everybody is going to list themselves as a nurse or a doctor and nothing can be done about that because the precedent would have been set,” Belker said.

“If you don’t go after Nancy Scofield, you can’t go after anybody else, and if nobody else will go after her, I will.”