South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

The first Health Career Exploration Symposium took place on June 24 at the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) in Beaufort, SC.  This collaborative effort between Lowcountry AHEC and the Preventive Medicine Department at the Naval Hospital-Beaufort provided Lowcountry high school students with an opportunity to explore health careers through cooperative learning activities and panel discussions.  Students circulated through six different morning classroom sessions, which introduced pharmacy, biomedical technology, respiratory therapy, medicine, dental technology and nursing and included hands-on activities. Dr. Laurence Neely, a former Upstate AHEC Health Careers Program student, served as one of the morning facilitators.  Numerous participants rated his session on medicine and blood typing as their favorite classroom session.   An afternoon panel of United States Navy servicemen and women shared inspiring stories that highlighted the importance of one’s drive and determin

The month of September is recognized as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.  The “For Men Only Health Symposium,” a forum targeted toward men was developed due to the overwhelming need to educate men and boys about their health with a focus on prostate cancer.  On Saturday, September 20 the fifth annual “For Men Only Health Symposium 2014: The WHOLE Man, Too” will be held 10:30am  to 4:30pm at the Otranto Road Regional Branch Library located at 2261 Otranto Road, North Charleston, SC.  This event is free but space is limited.  Registration is recommended.    Since 2009, For Men Only has been able to aid in sharing useful health information with more than 150 men and boys. The primary focus of each symposium is to educate and encourage men beginning at age 11 to implement healthy, positive lifestyles, while empowering them with firsthand information directly from local healthcare professionals to support each other in helping to reduce the premature mortality of men and boys.

The Veteran’s End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) will be held at Trident Community Center in the Trident Family Health Building located at 9228 Medical Plaza Drive, North Charleston, SC 29406. The course will take place from Friday, August 22 to Saturday, August 23. Statistics show that every day, one out of four deaths in the U.S. involves a veteran, but only four percent of veterans die in VA hospitals.  Because the other 96 percent die in community hospitals, at home, or in facilities, healthcare professionals in these settings need knowledge of specific interventions that meet veterans’ needs. Military culture encourages stoicism and denial of emotion while combat practice, exposure to death on the battlefield, contact with toxic substances, and battle-focused training can affect the death experience.  It is estimated that 30 to 50 percent of all combat veterans will exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome and these symptoms are exacerbated at end

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From left to right: (Seated) Clemson nursing faculty members Assistant Dean Barbara Hoskins, Office of  Distance Education; Associate Professor Ann Wetsel; and Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator Stephanie Davis. (Standing) Upstate AHEC Center Director Fay Brown and Upstate AHEC  Distance Learning Director Jennifer Walker Upstate AHEC and Clemson University School of Nursing are partnering to help prepare nurse educators for the future. The Preparing Nurse Educators for the Future partnership, underwritten by a grant from Johnson & Johnson, will facilitate development of distance learning modules to assist college and university nursing educators in staff development and continuing education.  The modules will also benefit nurses who plan to become college or university educators. The partnership will enhance the ability of Clemson nursing faculty members to develop and teach online courses through AHEC U, Upstate AHEC’s online distance learn

Lowcountry HCA students on the Coastal Carolina campus tour Lowcountry AHEC Health Careers Academy (HCA) students visited Coastal Carolina University (CCU) on May 9 as an introduction to pre-health majors and campus life. Twenty diverse students from 9th through 12th grade participated in a campus tour and session facilitated by the Coastal Carolina Department of Biology. The students took a tour of campus that introduced them to the university offerings and campus facilities. The tour ended with a lunch in the Fred W. Hicks Dining Hall. Following the tour, Associate Dean of Sciences Dr. Karen Aguirre and Shirice Lesane, a Coastal Carolina University student and AHEC Bench to Bedside participant, hosted a session that explored pre-health programs and majors, as well as opportunities available on campus. Ms. Lesane, a senior biology major from Sumter, SC, facilitated an open discussion about the college experience. During the discussion, the HCA students shared some of their c