Skip to main content

Strengthening the Lowcountry AHEC Health Careers Program through Professional Development

Lowcountry AHEC Health Careers Program (HCP) Coordinator Natasha Chatman participated in the 2014 Diversity Conference sponsored by the College of Charleston & the National Association of Holmes Scholar Alumni in September at the College of Charleston. The theme was “Building Partnerships to Support Youth of Promise.” Attendees participated in conference sessions, workshops, and community celebration that addressed ways educators can meet the needs of diverse learners through building community, student advocacy, and higher education partnerships. The keynote speakers were Freeman Hrabowski, III, Ph.D., president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Meta VanSickle, Ph.D., Professor and Department Chair for Teacher Education at the College of Charleston; and Margaret Olmos, M.A., the Chief of Staff in the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education.   The speakers shared compelling messages that urged educators to meet the needs of diverse learners through building positive student communities and addressing the challenging issues in education.

The information gained from this conference will enhance the services provided to HCP students in the Lowcountry.  Mrs. Chatman strives to increase the number of underrepresented minority and disadvantaged high school students entering the health professions in South Carolina. Mrs. Chatman learned tools to create a culturally sensitive learning environment; and she has insight on opportunities for additional services and support once students matriculate to post-secondary institutions, such as, the nationally known Federal TRIO Programs and the Call Me Mister (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) initiative.

To learn more about Lowcountry AHEC’s Health Careers Program, contact Natasha Chatman at chatmann@lcahec.com.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lowcountry AHEC Helps School Nurse Orientation Pivot Online during Pandemic

For many years, orientation for school nurses in South Carolina has been an in-person event; however, due to COVID-19, this orientation, like so many other in-person events, was cancelled this past year. Yet the need to orient South Carolina's school nurses remains critical. Recognizing this need, a team consisting of Lowcountry AHEC staff, South Carolina Association of School Nurse President Dawn MacAdams and South Carolina Department of Education State School Nurse Consultant Vicky Ladd developed a plan to deliver the orientation as an online, self-paced course. The instructors supported the format change, working to convert their in-person sessions to online content, and Lowcountry AHEC will provide nursing credit for the series over the next two years. The orientation went live in the fall of 2020 and is available at no cost to South Carolina school nurses on the new and improved South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal. To find out more and register, visit the Foundations of School

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 streng

Lowcountry AHEC’s Strong Partnerships Serve School Nurses Statewide

For over three decades, Lowcountry AHEC has been proud to support school nurses across South Carolina in their professional development through statewide conferences and meetings. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in-person events came to a halt, Lowcountry AHEC along with their partners, were able to pivot to alternate methods to continue providing training opportunities for school nurses. One such way Lowcountry AHEC was able to adapt was implementing online modules so that school nurses could continue to receive the same professional development and learning opportunities in a virtual setting. The first course, Foundations of School Nursing , included nine modules and was uploaded to the South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal (ALP) by August 2020 . With over 1,600 registrations to this day, Foundations of School Nursing is the most popular course currently on ALP. “We began to do some work with them on online modules,” said Lowcountry AHEC Center Director Diane Mathews. “All new schoo