South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

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...

Mid-Carolina AHEC, in partnership with the Upper Midlands Rural Health Network (UMRHN), presents this year’s school nurse workshop: Poverty, Substance Abuse, Gangs and Mental Health: Know the Signs at School, on October 10 at the Gateway Conference Center in Richburg, SC. While the workshop focuses on professional development for school nurses, it has recently started to provide continuing education for social workers and licensed professional counselors. This year’s workshop will provide 6.1 hours of continuing education for nurses, social workers and licensed professional counselors.   Mid-Carolina AHEC is a proud partner of the UMRHN. The Upper Midlands Rural Health Network (UMRHN) is a three-county network of health, human service and educational providers located in Chester, Fairfield and Lancaster counties in north central South Carolina.   The UMRHN’s goal is improving access to health care and securing healthcare safety nets. For more inform...

Cathie Storey, Coordinator of Health Services for the School District of Greenville County, has been named South Carolina Nurse Administrator of the Year by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the South Carolina Department of Education. Mrs. Storey, who has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Clemson University, coordinates health services for more than 90 schools and supervises 150 school nurses who provide services to Greenville County Schools’ 76,000 students.   Under her leadership, the district has reached the national average of one nurse for every 750 students. She played an integral role in securing a much-needed pay increase for nurses, and two years ago she hired four floating nurses to help cover schools when nurses are absent. “Our nurses work in an environment that’s like an emergency room with no doctor,” she said. “That is why we look for someone who can react quickly and calmly in a serious situation.” One of her greate...

The 35 th  Annual South Carolina School Nurse Conference will be January 22-23 at the Embassy Suites at the Charleston Area Convention Center in North Charleston.  This year’s theme is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Believe It, Achieve It”.   Over 400 school nurses are expected to attend from across South Carolina to celebrate school nursing and improve the ability to protect and promote the 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 ethics, leadership in school nursing and orientation, school nurse challenges, seizures, emergency care, concussions, self-harming behaviors, common skin conditions and the benefits of laughter with children.  Various vendors will also be in attendance.  For more information and to register, please visit: www.lcahec.com .

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...

Lowcountry AHEC is pleased to announce that school nurses from Dorchester School District Two have joined their Continuing Education Consortium as members. Dorchester School District Two includes 22 schools, one of which is the largest high school in the state of South Carolina. With Dorchester School District Two joining the consortium, the 25 school nurses in the district will now enjoy the benefits of consortium membership, including direct access to discounted credentialed continuing education programs. At the present time, Berkeley County and Charleston County school nurses are also consortium members. Upcoming programs for this target group includes “Diabetes Management in the School Setting” and “Assessment and Management of Sports Injuries in the School Setting.” See the South Carolina AHEC statewide programming calendar for more information at  scahec.net/schools/upcomingprograms.html .