Nursing celebration to include continuing education opportunity

Hanceville, AL — The Wallace State Community College Department of Nursing Education’s upcoming Celebration of Nursing event will offer attendees the chance to earn a continuing education contact hour while celebrating nurses and the nursing profession.

“We are extremely glad to be able to offer nurses this opportunity to earn a contact hour they can put toward their continuing education credits,” said Deborah Hoover, chair of the Wallace State Department of Nursing Education. “While we’re excited about gathering nurses from our area and across the state to celebrate them, we also wanted to be able to offer them something in return. So, providing a continuing education element seemed a natural fit for the event.”

During the April 20 event, part of the evening will include a panel discussion on “The Future of Nursing,” which qualified the event to count toward continuing education. The panel will include Arin Zapf of the Huntsville Hospital System, Terri Poe of UAB Medicine, Amy Shelton of Ascension/St. Vincent’s, Delicia Mason of Children’s of Alabama, Jackie Martinek of Brookwood Baptist, Leigh Bolton of ATI (Assessment Technology Institute), and Peggy Benson of the Alabama Board of Nursing.

The topics for the panel discussion will include:

• Lessons learned from the pandemic that will impact healthcare in the next five years
• Identifying important issues that must be confronted by the nursing profession of the future
• Delineating qualities of the healthcare system in the past that have been lost and can be recultivated for nursing success in the future
• Identifying skills that nurses need to develop in order to seize new opportunities on the horizon
• Outlining changes needed in nursing education for the future and how those modifications can be assessed

Also, during the event, attendees will hear a keynote address from WVTM Chief Meteorologist Jason Simpson, who is a Wallace State alum and supporter of Children’s Hospital of Alabama.

The event will include refreshments and dinner, and proceeds will benefit nursing scholarships at Wallace State.

Tickets for “Celebration of Nursing: Heroes of the Past, Present and Future” are $40 and are on sale through April 14. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.wallacestate.edu/nursing50 or contact Rachel Kreps at 256.352.8411 or rachel.kreps@wallacestate.edu.