Skip to main content

Pee Dee Echo Training Continues to Grow in North Carolina Via Videoconferencing

The Pee Dee Echo Society, under the leadership of McLeod Regional Medical Center chief echo sonographer Sherry Gibson, provides continuing professional development through case studies to registered diagnostic cardiac sonographers once a quarter.  This training was initially provided in-house to staff and has expanded to other facilities via videoconferencing technology.  Viewing sites include McLeod Seacoast (Little River, SC), McLeod Medical Center-Dillon (Dillon, SC), New Hanover Regional Medical Center (Wilmington, NC), and host site McLeod Regional Medical Center (Florence, SC).  The newest facility to join the Pee Dee AHEC training is Boice Willis Clinic in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

This collaboration was coordinated by Kay Lambert, Pee Dee AHEC Allied Health Education Coordinator, with the assistance of Area L AHEC in Rocky Mount, NC, who provided the videoconferencing equipment and viewing site for training their area sonographers. The impetus for this collaboration originated with a sonographer, Njeri Mendenhall, RDCS, who moved to North Carolina from Florence and desired to be a part of the training again. Connections were established and the Boice Willis sonographers attended their first training session in March.

Ms. Mendenhall stated, “I missed the relaxed atmosphere and ease of learning that the Pee Dee Echo Society provided.  Everyone learns from each other. After I graduated from the Sentara School of Health Professions in Chesapeake, Virginia, I shortly joined the staff at McLeod Regional Medical Center, Florence, SC.  At this time, I attended continuing education programs as a part of my professional healthcare career and continued for 8 years there.  I’m so glad to be a part of this training again with the use of videoconference technology and to receive professional continuing education credits.”

The next training for the Pee Dee Echo Society will be held on June 2 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.  Register to attend at www.peedeeahec.net.

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