South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

Dr. Stoney Abercrombie, Director of Medical Education at AnMed Health, was recognized as the 2013-2014 Preceptor of the Year by the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) Medical School for Excellence in Student Clinical Education. VCOM Associate Dean Dr. Paul Switzer presented the award at the annual AnMed Health medical staff dinner meeting on October 2. AnMed Health presently has 24 third and fourth year medical students in clinical training. Twenty-three are from VCOM and one is from MUSC. In the summer of 2015, the incoming third year class will have six medical students from VCOM and six from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). A native of Six Mile, SC, Dr. Abercrombie is a graduate of Clemson University, MUSC, and the Family Medicine Residency Program of the Greenville Hospital System. He served as a flight surgeon in the United States Army for two years and practiced for eight years in Seneca prior to entering academia. Dr. Abercrombie has pre...

Lowcountry AHEC’s permanent home at 87 Academy Road in Walterboro is scheduled to be completed sooner than anticipated at the end of January. Walterboro is the center of the Lowcountry AHEC service area and is a convenient location for health professionals and students to meet. In addition to housing the staff, the building will have a 1,000 square foot classroom/training room and a conference room. Both will have videoconferencing capabilities. Lowcountry AHEC is excited as the long-awaited project nears completion and looks forward to continuing to serve the communities in its 12-county region.

The 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.  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 to qualified physicians practicing in counties with a population of less than 50,000. Provide ...

(right to left) Kristin Blair and Dr. Belk Lowcountry AHEC works diligently to increase the number and diversity of students entering the health professions pipeline. The Lowcountry AHEC Summer Internship Program serves as a vehicle for accomplishing this goal by offering career exploration opportunities for graduating high school seniors and undergraduate students. Selected s t u den t s a r e p l ace d in Lowcountry hea l t h c a r e f a c il i t ies for four weeks in July. Students are provided opportunities to observe a healthcare setting and develop their personal and professional skills through special student sessions. Students who successfully complete the program are awarded a $500 stipend. Lowcountry AHEC has achieved great success through this program. Lowcountry AHEC Health Careers Program Coordinator Natasha Chatman shares, “Our interns are awesome, and they really impress the preceptors at our clinical sites.” Kristin Blair, a senior at South Carolina State ...

Specially targeted hypertension modules will be available as enduring continuing education videos in early 2015. To learn more,  check out the flyer  or  sign up for email updates .

The South Carolina School Nurse Conference Coming in January The 34 th Annual South Carolina School Nurse Conference will be January 30-31 at the Embassy Suites, Charleston Area Convention Center in North Charleston.   This year’s theme is “Waves of Change – Oceans of Opportunities” and over 400 school nurses are expected to attend from across the state of South Carolina to celebrate school nursing and improve the ability to protect and promote health, safety, and wellbeing of school children in the state.   The conference is approved for eight total contact hours of nursing credit and includes presentations on smart snacks, autism spectrum disorders, appropriate iPad apps for the school setting, effective communication, grief counseling, and many more. Awards recognizing outstanding school health efforts will be presented at the awards luncheon on January 31.   For more information please visit http://lcahec.com/upcoming-classes/ . Upstate AHE...

New to Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma Things Are Not Always As They Seem: Recognizing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse Pediatric Medication Administration OB Series:  Puzzled About Your OB Patient? Putting the Pieces Together (Pre-Natal Care) More Pieces to the Puzzle: Special Considerations in Pregnancy Labor and Delivery: Fast and Furious and Full of Pitfalls Postpartum: Busier Than Ever To view a program, visit  ahecu.org .

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has named Oscar F. Lovelace, Jr., MD, the national 2015 Family Physician of the Year at its annual Assembly. The award honors one outstanding American family physician who provides patients with compassionate, comprehensive care, and serves as a role model in his or her community, to other health professionals, and to residents and medical students. Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Lovelace has been a practicing family physician for more than 26 years. In 1988, he founded Lovelace Family Medicine in his grandparents' hometown of Prosperity, South Carolina, a small, rural farming community in Newberry County. Currently the practice employs 38 staff, including three board certified family physicians, 11 nurses and three nurse practitioners. Lovelace Family Medicine provides 8,000 patients with the full scope of family medicine services for patients of all ages, f...

The McLeod Family Medicine Residency Program, part of the South Carolina Family Medicine Residency Training Programs, is taking a comprehensive approach to preventing childhood obesity through a McLeod Foundation grant awarded in the amount of $5,275 for the proposal “Empowering Positive Parenting in Early Childhood.”   The proposal was submitted by residents Tareq Haidary, M.D.; Joseph Hoyle, M.D.; and faculty member Benjamin Elder, M.D.   The project focuses on the implementation of a proven early childhood literacy practice-based intervention, Reach Out and Read , along with additional innovative components that improve the delivery of clinical preventive services, such as the prevention of dental carries.  Reach out and Read serves families with children ages six months through five years who come for well child visits.   Practitioners promote reading as a safe, engaging activity that promotes a positive learning environment.   Using age-appropriate ...

To address the questions and dialogue surrounding the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Africa and care of patients infected with the virus, MUSC has created Ebola 101 for providers.   The video, presented by Dr. Cassandra Salgado from the Infectious Diseases Division, covers information about the virus as well as current treatment protocols. Click below to view the videos.

2014 Interns, left to right: Morgan McDaniels (Francis Marion University), Matt Holt (Coastal Carolina University), Angelica Bostick (University of South Carolina), Brianna Lewis (Coastal Carolina University), and Eric Robles (Coastal Carolina University) (Not all interns pictured) High school and college students in the Pee Dee region interested in applying for the Summer Internship Program for 2015 can get an early start this fall. The Summer Internship Program application will open in November instead of in February, as it has in the past.   “Our hope is that more students will apply for this wonderful opportunity and that this change will help us refine the way we take selected students through all the required steps to get started with their internships,” says Health Careers Program Coordinator Larrissa Clavon. More applicants applied for the 2014 Summer Internship Program than in 2013. Application numbers for 2015 are expected to be even higher...