Nurse Helped Give Sight to Blind in China Clinic

Surgical nurse Donna Wallenthin of El Toro, a member of an international team of surgeons and ophthalmic technicians, has returned from a two-week stay in China where she helped to restore the sight of 42 blind patients in Xiamen.

Wallenthin, who works at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, has also participated in other volunteer eye surgery clinics sponsored by Surgical Eye Expedition International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization founded in 1974.

They include expeditions to Amman, Jordan, and to Mexico.

Besides working as a surgical nurse during the expeditions, she also speaks at ophthalmic educational symposiums.

Santa Ana resident David Beach, president of Coffee Specialists Corp. in Santa Ana, has been elected chairman of the board of the National Coffee Service Assn., an international trade group representing the office coffee-service industry.

The Fullerton Union High School District has named Patti Radford, a typist/records clerk, Employee of the Year, and Jeff Nelson, a biology teacher, was named Teacher of the Year.

Redford works in the front office, typing and duplicating teacher materials and training new employees.

Nelson spent 11 years as a research scientist at the University of California before becoming a teacher in 1983.

Westminster resident Les Blazejczyk, chief of security for Tustin Hospital Medical Center, was presented the Supervisor Achievement Award from the Western Region of Guardsmark Inc., a security company. He received $100 and a certificate.

Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau president Richard B. Gartrell was presented the Certified Assn. Executive designation from the American Society of Assn. Executives after his completion of a comprehensive examination. He is a Mission Viejo resident.

Sunny Hills High School French teacher Lynn Johnson, a Yorba Linda resident, was awarded a fellowship by the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the recently concluded four-week program of Summer Seminars for School Teachers in Paris.

Carole Eichen Interiors, a Santa Ana model home design and merchandising firm, was selected Consultant of the Year by the Building Assn. of San Diego County for creative interior merchandising.

Barbara F. Smith, former principal of Serrano Intermediate School in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, has been named to the new position of director, curriculum and instruction, by the Capistrano Unified School District.

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