SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Practice of the Year

The South Carolina AHEC Practice of the Year Award recognizes practices and training sites that exhibit exemplary dedication to the teaching of health professions students and a commitment to serving their communities. This year, South Carolina AHEC recognizes Low Country Heath Care System, Inc. - Barnwell Pediatrics as the 2019 Practice of the Year. 

Barnwell Pediatrics was founded in 1988 by Dr. Abe Moskow but is now owned by Low Country Health Care System, Inc. The practice has three physicians, two nurse practitioners and one physician assistant and provides a medical home for children from birth to 21 years of age. They meet the unique needs of children through all of their developmental stages as they grow and mature. Barnwell Pediatrics provides a full array of comprehensive primary care services to the population of Barnwell and surrounding counties. 

Lowcountry AHEC health profession students have benefited from a wide variety of
experiences at Barnwell Pediatrics. Each year the practitioners and the staff volunteer to provide hours of clinical education to health profession students. Barnwell Pediatrics providers have precepted more than 100 medical, nurse practitioner and physician assistant students since 2010 from more than 12 different educational institutions.

One student explained her experience learning at the practice: 

I have learned so much from this site in such a short time. From the friendly staffand nurses to the providers and patients, I was welcomed with opened arms and left every day having learned something new about pediatrics. My preceptor, Dr. Burnett, and co-preceptor Jory Croft, gave a lot of insight and knowledge about pediatrics and made me feel very comfortable assessing younger patients and creating differential diagnoses. More importantly, I realized that in pediatrics you are essentially caring for the patient, but also keeping their family informed and reassured. Overall, I have gained a great appreciation for pediatrics in addition to the copious amount of knowledge that I will take away from this rotation. I am so grateful for the learning environment that Barnwell Pediatrics has provided for me and my fellow colleagues.

Congratulations and thank you, Barnwell Pediatrics! 

SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Preceptor of the Year

The South Carolina AHEC Preceptor of the Year Award recognizes unwavering commitment to health professions students’ clinical education. This award distinguishes an outstanding community-based preceptor serving South Carolina health professions students. Each year, practitioners volunteer to provide hours of clinical education to students from various professions. It is their dedication to the education of the next generation of health professionals that we honor with this award. This year’s Preceptor of the Year is Ms. Darlene Fludd, FNP. 

As a student, Ms. Fludd participated in the South Carolina Rural Interdisciplinary Program of Training (SCRIPT) with Lowcountry AHEC, and now she serves as preceptor for their students as well as students from Pee Dee AHEC. Ms. Fludd has been employed at St. James-Santee Family Health Center as a nurse practitioner since 2014 and has been very involved in health professions student training, primarily with nurse practitioner students. Every semester, she willingly and gladly volunteers to take students. She is a very caring and compassionate practitioner, providing a quality learning experience for her students. Likewise, the students thoroughly enjoy working with her. She possesses an unwavering commitment to the health professions students’ clinical education. Ms. Fludd exemplifies the very best in what it means to be an outstanding preceptor.

One of Ms. Fludd’s students explained the impact of her teaching:

As a preceptor, Mrs. Fludd demonstrates an interest and ability to teach, as well as exhibits passion in her practice area. She encourages me to expand my knowledge in rural health care and the community that she is working with. She also encourages me to participate in patient care and ask questions that involves critical thinking skills. As a preceptee, I found very fortunate have Mrs. Fludd as my preceptor.

Thank you, Ms. Fludd, for all of your hard work and dedication!

SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Gateway Award

The South Carolina AHEC Gateway Award recognizes individuals who are committed to furthering the development of future health professionals and are distinguished in their service to students in the health careers pipeline. This year’s Gateway Award recipient is Angelica Ellman Christie, Ed.D. 

Dr. Christie is currently the vice president of academic affairs at Denmark Technical College. Previously, she served in the South Carolina AHEC system for numerous years: She started her career in 1998 as the Health Careers Program (HCP) coordinator for Greenville AHEC and advanced as the HCP director in the South Carolina AHEC program office in 2000. In the fall of 2018, Dr. Christie left South Carolina AHEC for her position at Denmark Tech.

Throughout her career, Dr. Christie exhibited her passionate dedication to advancing the mission of South Carolina AHEC. She enthusiastically went above and beyond to research, develop, and successfully undertake new projects and programming to strengthen and enhance the HCP core services, including Bench to Bedside (B2B), Building Coalitions to Increase the Diversity of the S.C. Health Care Workforce, Teach-the-Teacher Academy, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) Health Careers Exploration & Literacy Project. 

One of Dr. Christie’s AHEC colleagues described her dedication to the Health Careers Program: 

Angelica understood the needs of communities, suburban and rural, and worked fiercely to advocate for students to get involved in health careers so that the community at large would become a healthier, more vital, and impactful place to live. Angelica supported all types of programs that local high schools were working to implement and develop by having coordinators befriend health science instructors and create partnerships to educate young people in health careers. There was no program that Angelica did not see value in, and then add more depth to.  

Dr. Christie’s dedication to excellence was seen throughout her tenure with the South Carolina AHEC System and she indelibly left her mark on the Health Careers Program.  Thank you, Dr. Christie! 

SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Michel Porter AHEC Ambassador Award

The Michel Porter AHEC Ambassador Award is presented to a South Carolina AHEC staff member who has made a major contribution to the enhancement of South Carolina AHEC by exhibiting excellence in the following categories: attitude, helpfulness, empowerment and creativity. This year, South Carolina AHEC is proud to bestow the award to Lowcountry AHEC health professions student coordinator Emily Warren, LMSW.

Emily Warren been part of the Lowcountry AHEC team for nearly 20 years. During that time, she has worked within the region and throughout the state to bring health professions students into rural and underserved areas, taught interprofessional teamwork to health professions students and empowered students to become leaders in the community via grassroots community health promotion projects.

One colleague described Ms. Warren’s commitment to excellence:

Emily is very helpful with everyone she works with and meets. She is a great resource for other HPS coordinators in the state as well as to students and university faculty. She goes the extra mile with her students making sure that they have what they need for a good clinical and community experience . . . Emily is great at empowering her health professions students. She is a good teacher and encourages students to learn from the community while living and working in the rural and underserved areas of the Lowcountry.

Congratulations Emily and thank you for all that you do!

SC Office for Healthcare Workforce Searching for New Director

South Carolina AHEC is seeking a senior researcher to lead the SC Office for Healthcare Workforce. After ten years of leadership, SCOHW director Linda Lacey will be stepping down later this year. This position leads a research team and serves in a leadership role. The role requires a background in health services research or the social sciences and an established record of research related to factors/policies affecting the supply of or demand for healthcare professionals and para-professionals. The successful candidate will hold a full-time adjunct faculty appointment at the Medical University of South Carolina, where the South Carolina AHEC program office is housed administratively.  However, this position lies entirely within the SC AHEC program office.

Qualified candidates may submit their resume and cover letter through the Medical University of South Carolina HR website.

The South Carolina AHEC Program Office Welcomes Dawn Leberknight

Dawn Leberknight joined the South Carolina AHEC program office in April as the new curriculum coordinator. In her role, she focuses on innovative integration of new and emerging curriculum design strategies as well as supports SC AHEC’s Office for Telehealth Education initiatives. Before joining AHEC, Dawn was a program coordinator for the MUSC Anesthesia Residency Program and, most recently, the curriculum coordinator for the Trident/MUSC Family Medicine Residency Program. Dawn grew up in eastern North Carolina and moved to South Carolina in 2005 to attend the College of Charleston. She majored in English with a minor in secondary education and she taught at a public middle school for three years before transitioning to higher education.

Outside of work, Dawn enjoys spending time with her husband and two young daughters.

Welcome, Dawn! She can be reached at leberkni@musc.edu or 843-792-4267.

Incentive Grants for Primary Care Providers in Rural and Underserved Areas

South Carolina AHEC is pleased to announce that applications are currently being accepted from primary care physicians (Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Ob/Gyn) and advanced practice professionals (Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants) who contract for a period of four years to practice in rural or underserved areas of South Carolina.  The program also provides funding to general surgeons and psychiatrists who contract for a period of four years to practice in rural or underserved areas of the state. 

Awards for physicians will vary with the minimum award being $60,000 and the maximum award being $100,000 depending upon the type of practice setting and the population of the county.

Awards for advanced practice professionals will vary with the minimum award being $30,000 and the maximum award being $50,000 depending upon the type of practice setting and the population of the county.

Specifically, the State Incentive Grant Program may:

• Provide $25,000 per year for up to four years for qualified physicians practicing in counties with a population of less than 50,000.

• Provide $15,000 per year for up to four years for qualified physicians in counties with a population over 50,000 who work in rural areas (non-urbanized) as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 Census or who work in federally qualified health centers in urban areas.

• Provide $12,500 per year for up to four years to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) and Physician Assistants (PA) practicing in counties with a population of less than 50,000.

• Provide $7,500 per year for up to four years for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) and Physician Assistants (PA) in counties with a population over 50,000 who work in rural areas (non-urbanized) as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 Census or who work in federally qualified health centers in urban areas.

• Clinicians (physicians and advanced practice providers) working in state prisons may qualify.

• Half-time option (20 hours per week) for half of the full-time (40 hours per week) funding amount will be considered.

Applications for incentive grants will be accepted until March 15, 2019. 

A new recruitment incentive grant is also available to residents graduating from a South Carolina Family Medicine Residency Program and going into practice in one of the state’s whole county Geographic Health Professional Shortage Areas.  Due to a limited number of slots, these incentive grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

For more information about both components of the program, please visit the South Carolina AHEC Recruitment and Retention webpage.