The CONnectionGAMECOCK

News and Views from the University of South Carolina COLLEGE OF NURSING

Inside This Issue

Students Corner..............2

Alumni & Development...3

Faculty & Staff Notes.....4-5

NO LIMITS........................6

JUNE 2015

Dean Jeannette Andrews

Send Inquiries or Newsletter items to:Jan Johnsonjnjohnso@mailbox.sc.edu

www.sc.edu/nursingwww.facebook.com/USCNursing - LIKE US!#UofSCNursing

The mental health statistics in our state are alarming! Approximately one in five South Carolinian’s suffer from “any” mental illness each year. Further, there are over 200,000 adults and 60,000 children diagnosed with a “serious mental illness” in our state each year. As the mental health needs continue to rise, mental healthcare resources have been cut and/or are diminishing for our friends, family members, and citizens of the state. There are now 17 counties in South Carolina currently without a specialized mental health provider.

For the past year and a half, we have been gearing up to impact this most significant health need in our state and the Southeastern US region. Championed by Dr. Tena Hunt McKinney, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program di-rector, along with Dr. Stephanie Burgess, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program director, and Dr. Kathrene Berger, meetings have been held with individuals, organi-zations, and our stakeholder advisory board to guide our newly re-visioned PMHNP program. We are strategically positioning to recruit and train nurses from all across our state, especially from underserved counties, with the goal of increasing mental healthcare access by a competently trained mental health provider. Not only will we train Master’s and Doctoral prepared nurse practitioners in the direct provision of mental health care, we are working with our colleagues in the School of Medicine and the Department of Mental Health to train our graduates in telehealth as a means to increase access for all patients. Our first cohort of students with this newly re-visioned and innovative program begins in August, with the initial impact of these new providers being realized as soon as two to three years.

We wish to thank the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, SC Department of Mental Health, Carolinas Health System, SC Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, SC Department of Health and Human Services, Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers, Palmetto Health, Greenville Health System, and others for their support and partnership with this joint effort.

As with all of our initiatives in the College of Nursing, we have the vision, strategy, and partners to march forward to impact health outcomes and quality of life for all South Carolinians. Stay tuned to hear about our other new initiatives over the next few months.

Jeannette O. Andrews PhD, RN, FAANDean & Professor j.andrews@sc.edu

USC Nursing: The New Foot Soldiers in Mental Health in SC

Students Corner

Madison Scheidt is commis-sioned as a Ensign, United States Navy. She was a member of Delta Zeta Sorority and a member of the Naval ROTC Battalion. She earned the Columbia Navy League Association Sword. She has com-pleted training on the LPD-19 Verde and at the Portsmouth Na-tional Medical Center. She will be heading to the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

College of Nursing’s New Psychiatric Programs featured in StuNurse.com Magazine

Read it HERE (page 17)

Ruchi Desai received a Ma-gellan Apprentice Scholarship to work on Dr. Swann Adams’ grant project, “Disparities in treatment patterns between Af-rican American and European American women” this summer.

Elyssa Easterling is commissioned as a Ensign, United States Navy. She was President of Chi Eta Phi and a member of the Naval ROTC Battalion. She earned the USS Columbia Association Award Sword and has completed training on the LHD-1 Wasp and at the Walter Reed National Military Medi-cal Center. She will be heading to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia.

“We are proud to graduate as Carolina Nurses and even prouder to be serving the men and women who protect our freedom. We want to say thank you to USC and the Gamecock nurses who helped to lay the foundation to help us achieve our dreams. May you always remember what a difference you make to your students.”

Student Spotlight:Lisa Webb, PhD Student Read it HERE.

CON Graduates Serving Our Country

VITAL SIGNS....An Update from Alumni and Development

All Gifts and Pledges to support Nursing

can be sent to:

USC College of Nursing

1027 Barnwell Street

Columbia, SC 29208

Gift Processing

Checks Made Payable to the USC

Educational Foundation or at

our website

http://giving.sc.edu/

To learn how you can make

a difference at

USC College

of Nursing

contact

the Development Office

at 803-777-3468.

Thank you Marilyn and Chuck Sonnenberg for your many years of support and leadership as Partnership Board Members and Capital Campaign Chairs for the College of Nursing. You truly made an everlasting impact and helped us reach our goals. We appreciate you!

Spotlight: Dr. JoAnne HermanProfessor Emeritus, Dr. JoAnne Herman, has worked at the Col-lege of Nursing for 30 years and currently serves as a scholarship consultant for clinical faculty. She assists in writing abstracts, presentations and any kind of projects they need help with.

“I would like to thank the Col-lege of Nursing faculty and staff for supporting me as my vision failed,” Herman stated. “They

accepted my guide dogs into everyday routine and that has meant the world to me.”

Helping others has become her passion which is why she volun-teers at PAALS (Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services). She serves on a client committee that reviews applications and con-ducts home visits for the final decision of clients benefiting from service animals. Their largest clientele are soldiers returning from Afghanistan with brain related injuries and PTSD. She says these animals are life savers.

She is also an avid theater-goer and loves Broadway plays. Every summer, she and her husband go to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.

Save The Date

Viana McCown

FRIDAYNovember 13, 2015

Celebrate 15 years of our Clinical Doctorate program:

From ND to DNP

Faculty and Staff Notes

Dr. Bernardine Pinto receives $2.5 million NIH R01 Grant. Read more HERE.

Dr. DeAnne K. Hilfinger Mes-sias has been named the Emily Myrtle Smith Professor of Com-munity Nursing. Read more HERE.

Dr. Robin Estrada has been se-lected as one of the participants for the 2015-2017 Faculty Cy-ber-Mentoring Program.

Dr. Ronit Elk’s community study members panel, Jonnie W. Grant, Rachel Martin, Cynthia Coburn-Smith, Rev. Michael A. Williams, Barbara Copeland, and Gardenia Simmons-White. They met for her “Community-Generated Palliative Care Tele-medicine for Rural Black and White Elders” R21 Study Prog-ress Presentation and R01 Brainstorming Session.

Jeff and Jeannie Williams with Governor Nicki Hal-ey, Dr. Amber Williams and Representatives Chip Huggins, Ralph Kennedy, and Ralph Norman.

Firehouse subs donated $50,000 to the Jeffrey Lee Williams foundation for CO awareness. Read more HERE.

Faculty Publications

“Peer Mentoring to Promote Physical Activity among Cancer Survivors: Effects on Quality of Life” (AU: Pinto, B. M., Stein, K. & Dunsiger, S.) has been accepted for publication in Psycho-Oncology.

Dr. Bernardine Pinto, Associate Dean for Research, is featured in Bloom, the newsletter for Reach to Recovery International. “Moving forward together: peer support can help breast cancer survivors become physically active.” Read it HERE (page 10)

Niederhauser, V., Johnson M, & Tavakoli, A., (2015). Vaccines4kids: Assessing the Impact of Test Message Reminders on Immunization Rates Infants. Vaccine

Qiu R, Eberth JM, Gallant N, Copeland A, McDonnell KK. (in press). Planning and implementation of low-dose CT lung cancer screening pro-grams in the U.S. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.

Faculty Presentations

Dr. Tena McKinney and Dr. Kathrene Berger presented “Neuropsychiatry and Medical Disorders: Relationship and Co-morbidity,” at the Palmetto Health Behavioral Care 2015 Conference on May 8, 2015.

Bergeron, C. D., Levkoff, S., Duke, C., Co-burn-Smith, C., Elk, R. (2014). Building Our Story Together: How Community Partner-ships Can Lead to the Development of a Cul-turally Tailored Palliative Care Telemedicine Consult Program in Rural South Carolina. South Carolina Public Health Association, Columbia, South Carolina, May 20-22, 2015. (poster presentation)

Guthrie, A., Levkoff, S., Coburn-Smith, C., Duke, C., Spencer, M., Elk, R. (2014). Voices of Beaufort: Using CBPR to Design a Cultur-ally-Tailored Palliative Care Program for Rural Elders. South Carolina Public Health Associa-tion, Columbia, South Carolina, May 20-22, 2015. (poster presentation)

Burshell D, Ranwala D, Andrews JO, New-man S, Melvin C, Jenkins C. (2015). Com-munity Engaged Scholars Program: Advancing Team Science through Academic and Com-munity Partnerships to Overcome Health Challenges. Proceedings from Science of Team Science (SciTS) 2015 Conference. Bethesda, MD.

Jenkins C, Melvin C, Newman S, Burshelll D, Ranwala D, Pierce H, Davis R, Andrews JO. (2015). Community Engaged Scholars Program. Training Academic and Community Partners. Proceedings from the Translational Science Conference. Washington DC.

Abbas S. Tavakoli, Nikki R. Wooten, Mar-lene B. Al-Barwani, Selina H. McKinney, Sue E. Levkoff. Analyzing Longitudinal Data from a Department of Veterans Affairs Mul-tisite Randomized Controlled Trial. Poster presentation at VA Research Day, May 19th, 2015, Columbia, SC.

Olga Ivaschkevich and DeAnne K. Hilfin-ger Messias will present An Analysis of Art and New Media Productions from a Commu-nity Initiative for Girls in Juvenile Arbitrationand Issues-based Art Workshop with Girls in the Juvenile Arbitration System: A Restorative Youth Justice Approach at the 11th Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 20-23, 2016.

Cheryl Nelson has been appointed Director of Student Affairs.

Program Coordinator, Lisa Spruill, is the CON Staff Member of the Year.

Dr. Laura Hein’s article Caring for Transgender Patients in the journal Nursing made Incredibly Easy November/Decem-ber 2014 Diversity Issue won the 2015 American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors Bronze Award for Best Feature Article.

No Limits to our Teaching• First and largest BSN and nursing graduate programs in the state of SC • NCLEX and Nurse Practitioner Board Pass Rates exceeding both state and national averages • New PhD student fellowships and stipends• National and Internationally recognized faculty• Online graduate programs ranked #3 in the country by US News and World Report

No Limits to our Innovation • State-of-the-art Client Simulation Lab providing revolutionizing and quality education to students• Cutting edge research in health care delivery, cancer survivorship, health promotion, and vulnerable populations• 4th DNP program in the country, now provided online• Center for Nursing Leadership is leading state-wide action coalitions responsive to the national Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action

No Limits to our Caring • The College of Nursing’s Children and Family Healthcare Center is the only nurse managed medical home in South Carolina• Our dedicated expert clinical faculty provide comprehensive healthcare to all ages of an underserved population• Over 90 scholarships provided each year to our students, with the generosity from our alumni and donors• Well established partnerships with health systems and stakeholders across the state

No Limits to our Scholarship• National leaders in nursing research with 86% tenure track faculty have externally funded research, 5 new NIH awards in past two years• Diverse portfolio of research funding from NCI, NINR, NHLBI, NLM, CDC, HRSA, Duke Foundation, & others• Two Research Centers: Healthcare Process and Redesign Center and Cancer Survivorship Center

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE OF NURSING

CONTACT USCollege of Nursing

University of South Carolina1601 Greene Street

Columbia, SC 29208

Office of the Dean:803-777-3861

Office of Academic Affairs:803-777-7412

Information Resource Center:803-777-1213

Office of Research:803-777-7413

Center for Nursing Leadership

803-777-3039

Employment Opportunities

www.sc.edu/nursingwww.facebook.com/USCNursing