Margaret C. Wilmoth, a former professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, became dean of Georgia State University’s Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions effective Jan. 1.
As dean, Wilmoth leads programs in nursing, nutrition, respiratory therapy and physical therapy. She is the first dean of the school following the reorganization of the former College of Health and Human Sciences last summer.
Wilmoth has served as a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve as the first nurse and woman to command a medical brigade at a general officer rank. She recently completed a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in Washington, D.C., and is an active researcher in psychosocial oncology.
Wilmoth also has a role with the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group of the National Cancer Institute.
Nursing scholarships: The family of Gwinnett native Ione Huff Clarke donated more than $450,000 to establish the annual Clarke Family Nursing Scholarship Endowment at Gwinnett Technical College. In December, four Gwinnett Tech nursing students were awarded the first scholarships, which go to first- and second-year nursing students who have also distinguished themselves academically.
Jennifer Dent’s pursuit of a nursing career began as a result of a personal loss. Briauna Howard, whose mother was a nurse, became passionate about nursing because of a family member’s illness. Dent and Howard, both first-year students from Lawrenceville, each received $2,500.
Agatha Covalschi, of Lawrenceville, is a second-year student whose goal is to become a surgical or a labor and delivery nurse. Kimberly Cummings, of Bethlehem, is a second-year student who plans to become an oncology nurse, honoring her mother, whom she lost to breast cancer and her sister, who is a breast cancer survivor. Both students received $1,250.
The endowment is funded by the estate of Elmer and Ione Clarke through their sons, Jim, Gary and David. Born in Duluth, Ione Clarke was a nurse for 40 years.
Public health grant: Georgia Southern University's Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health has been awarded a $100,000 grant to help improve public health services for some of the state's most at-risk citizens.
The grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will be used to help improve the quality of services from public health departments around Georgia. Researchers from the school will work with the state’s health departments and the Georgia Public Health Practice-Based Research Network, housed at Georgia Southern, to find ways to better address critical public health issues including obesity, diabetes and newly emerging infectious diseases.
Health literacy grant: Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing has received a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the effects of health literacy on medication compliance among African Americans living with HIV/AIDS.
Drenna Waldrop-Valverde, Ph.D., who holds dual faculty appointments in the school of nursing and the Rollins School of Public Health, is the principal investigator of the study. This study is part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the nation’s first comprehensive coordinated HIV/AIDS roadmap with measurable goals, which include reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to care and reducing HIV-related health disparities.
Let it snow: Visiting Nurse Health System is starting a new tradition by moving its annual "Big-To-Do" benefit to Stone Mountain Park in 2012. For the first time, the family event benefiting Visiting Nurse Health System's Children's Program will be at Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain Park on Feb. 12 from 3 to 6 p.m.
Families will enjoy tubing down Snow Mountain, making a snowman, climbing through snow tunnels and shooting snowballs. Attendees can enjoy Snow Mountain all day, plus two hours of private use of the snow-tubing slopes.
Big-To-Do ticket packages are available for $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000. Individual tickets are $60; children under 36 inches tall are free. Tickets are available at www.vnhs.org.
Partnership finalized: Piedmont Healthcare and Henry Medical Center announced Nov. 28 that their partnership deal has won approval from the state Attorney General's office — the last step in finalizing the deal.
The approval cleared the way for Henry Medical to become an official part of the Piedmont system on Jan. 1. Piedmont now leases the hospital’s facilities and has taken over day-to-day operations, with oversight by a newly constituted board of directors for Henry Medical Center.
The hospital, a 215-bed facility in Stockbridge, is owned by the Hospital Authority of Henry County.
Top-notch rating: WellStar Health System has received a 3 Star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, which has developed a comprehensive rating system for the quality of cardiac surgery among hospitals. Only 12 percent to 15 percent of hospitals across the country received the 3 Star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality for clinical excellence based on National Quality Forum standards.
WellStar offers a cutting-edge, comprehensive cardiac program, with the exception of transplant services. The WellStar cardiac program cares for patients in northwest Georgia. The cardiac surgery program is housed at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
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