Thursday you can cool down, and give back to ECU Health’s Maynard Children’s Hospital, all while getting a sweet treat. It’s all a part of Dairy Queen’s annual Miracle Treat Day.
Every one dollar off a blizzard sold, will go back to help Maynard Children’s Hospital. Officials from ECU Health say in the past 20 years, Dairy Queen has raised nearly $200,000 for Maynard Children’s Hospital.
“We fund things from different types of equipment. So big transport trucks, down to little tiny vein finders for NICU babies, to supporting different programs at our children’s hospital like our child life program,” says Elise Ironmonger, Director of Programs for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at ECU Health Foundation.
Locations that are taking part include, Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle, Greenville, Havelock, both Jacksonville locations, Morehead City, New Bern, Pine Knoll Shores, Roanoke Rapids, Sneads Ferry, Williamston and Winterville.
ECU is once again achieving high marks for their Nursing program with a re-accreditation.
According to ECU Health the Nurse Residency Program at ECU Health Medical Center recently achieved re-accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Commission on Accreditation Practice Transition Programs (PTAP) until July 2028. ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation validates hospital residency or fellowship programs that transition registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) into new practice settings which must meet rigorous, evidence-based standards for quality and excellence.
Trish Baise, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, chief nursing executive, ECU Health says, “I am proud to recognize and celebrate the incredible contributions of our ECU Health nurses who exemplify the mission, vision and values of ECU Health through their exceptional care in our hospitals and clinics.The Nurse Residency Program at ECU Health Medical Center plays a crucial role in recruiting and retaining excellent nurses that are passionate about serving eastern North Carolina. I take pride in our ECU Health nursing community, and I am grateful to every nurse who chooses ECU Health as their professional home.”
ECU Health Medical Center accredited transition programs try and promote continued learning skills for Nurses to deliver safe, professional high-quality care.
Takisha Williams, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, nursing education specialist and director of the Nurse Residency Program at ECU Health Medical Center concludes saying, “ECU Health takes great pride in the Nurse Residency Program being acknowledged by ANCC as a premier transition program for nurses. Our program is grounded in evidence-based practices to foster exceptional nursing care. ANCC accreditation provides nurse residents and fellows with confidence in our program, ensuring a structured path to development, rigorous evaluation methods and measurable learner outcomes.”
While most kids are enjoying camp this Summer, there are those that cannot due to cancer, hemophilia and sickle cell disease. However, ECU Health and the Department of Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University is changing that.
ECU Health has issued a press release that they willmake it possible for children with cancer, hemophilia and sickle cell disease to take part in summer camp. Camp Rainbow is for children with cancer, hemophilia and children who have lost a sibling to one of these diseases, and Camp Hope, for children with sickle cell disease.
The camp will be hosted June 16-22 at The Refuge, 1380 Lower Field Road, Ayden, N.C. 28513.ECU Health and Brody team members have developed camping programs to provide pediatric patients an opportunity to learn more about themselves and their illness, participate in fun activities. Activities will include swimming, canoeing, archery, crafts, music, and drama.
During the camp, children will receive 24-hour medical care and close medical monitoring by their ECU Health care teams including physicians, nurses, child life, and social workers.
Both camps are offered at no cost to kids with chronic illnesses by donations and support due to generous donations and support by many people and organizations.
Trees at an Eastern Carolina hospital will be lit in different colors each month to raise awareness about the different forms of cancer.
“The spotlight on Cancer Project” kicks off Thursday night at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital in Washington – and the Shepard Cancer Center.
This month is Colon Cancer Awareness Month.
The lights on the hospital campus will be blue at night as a reminder about the importance of colonoscopies.
Thanks to new grant funding, graduates from several ECU College of Nursing departments will be poised to provide health care that makes a big difference in small communities.
The four-year, $2.79 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration is intended to transform the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) workforce and improve access to health care in rural and underserved areas of eastern North Carolina.
The Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Academic-Clinical Practice Collaborative will bring together students from three APRN concentrations to learn first-hand about the health care needs in areas that have the least access to care and a high prevalence of farmers, fishers and loggers who face different occupational hazards.
“It’s an opportunity to not only give students excellent primary care experiences in rural health, but also to give them hands-on exposure to what it’s like to care for clients in eastern North Carolina,” said Dr. Pamela Reis, an associate professor in the Department of Nursing Science, who will lead the project. “Hopefully this will create investment in wanting to work in rural and underserved communities in the future.”
The project will recruit 84 advanced practice nursing students from nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery and clinical nurse specialist concentrations over the four-year period and place them in rural communities through a partnership with Vidant Health. The students will also receive specialized training that is designed to help them understand patient needs and provide better care in these areas.
The grant provides part-time students with $11,000 toward their education while full-time students receive $22,000. For each year of financial support they receive, students are asked to provide two years of work experience in rural or underserved communities.
Of the 41 counties in eastern North Carolina, 28 have fewer than five primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, and 30 have fewer than five nurse practitioners.
Although advanced practice registered nurses are educated to provide primary care services, in North Carolina, they are only allowed to do so under the supervision of a physician. Because physicians are more highly concentrated in urban areas of the state, rural areas are often left with few or no primary care options nearby.
Identical bills currently making their way through the state House of Representatives and Senate would remove the physician supervision requirement, paving the way for more primary care providers to serve the communities that need them most.
“There’s a need, but there hasn’t been an ability for them [APRNs] to practice [independently] in rural communities,” Reis said. “Many hospitals in rural communities are closing which probably will impact the ability of our students to work in rural or underserved communities. It’s kind of the perfect storm of opportunity for our students. If this legislation passes, they will be able to go to rural communities and provide care to people who may not be receiving care because of all the closures that are going on in health care facilities.”
Second-year nurse midwifery student Katelyn Veal, who was selected for the program, said she appreciated the program encouraging the primary care aspects of the midwife practice.
“Including midwives in it and recognizing primary care as a significant scope of our practice is important,” said Veal, who worked as a critical care nurse for seven years. “I think a lot of people just consider midwives to be involved in the labor and delivery part of women’s health, but we’re providers that are really uniquely positioned to interface with women annually. They can take advantage of the services we provide —we provide primary care services as well, and we can be utilized in rural parts of the state to increase access to care.”
Veal and other participants will be placed in Vidant Health clinics in rural areas throughout eastern North Carolina to learn first-hand what health care professionals face there in terms of patient care.
Mallory Moore, a Doctor of Nursing Practice student who received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from ECU in 2016, has been placed in a clinic in her hometown of Tarboro as part of the program.
“I grew up going to Tarboro clinics. It has grown quite a bit since then,” Moore said. “It’s really exciting, but it’s kind of intimidating at the same time —I keep thinking they’re going to think that I’m still little Mallory with the big bow in my hair. But I think it’s going to be a cool way to give back and show the community that I’ve grown up, and to help out back home.”
While she currently works at Duke University Hospital, Moore said the transplant unit that she works in regularly gets patients from rural areas, so she’s become familiar with some of the challenges those patients face.