Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC) To Host Second Annual Future Nurses Club Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2004
Future Nurses Club Conference
Contact: Gisela Hernandez, Program Development Specialist
Coastal Bend Health Education Center
(361) 825-2805
http://cbhec.tamushsc.edu
Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC) To Host Second Annual Future Nurses Club Conference
The Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC) at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center will present the second annual Future Nurses Club Conference on Thursday, January 29, 2004, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lone Star Ballroom in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s University Center. This year’s conference theme is “This is not your Mother’s Nursing Career.”
Students will have a unique opportunity to listen to an inspiring speaker and role model. The keynote speaker will be Kathryn J. McDonagh, president and chief executive officer of Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ms. McDonagh is an innovative and experienced health care executive with a successful record of accomplishment in a variety of health care settings. Conference attendees will be fortunate to hear from such an energetic and inspirational public speaker, committed community leader, author and educator.
Ms. McDonagh will speak at 10:15 a.m. Her keynote address will touch upon the varying changes in nursing as a career such as gender and technology. As she notes, “The traditional views of nursing as a career have changed dramatically since our mothers became nurses. Nurses now include men and women in health care and new technologies have created many new and exciting opportunities in nursing. Many people don’t realize the many varied places that nurses work and the versatile lifelong opportunities nursing can provide for those who are committed to work that they love and that matches their unique talents.”
At 11:30 a.m., approximately 300 students will tour the nursing clinical laboratory in the Science and Technology Building, and will also have the opportunity to visit with various representatives from hospitals, military and academic institutions, and other health care facilities, and attend a Counselor Workshop that will take place in Tejas Rooms A, B, and C.
CBHEC, as the conference host, is working in partnership with various entities to identify and recruit high school students who are interested in pursuing a career in nursing. Partners/sponsors for the event include Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and its School of Nursing and Health Sciences Program, The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, military representatives from the Army and Navy, the Texas Nurses Association, Northwest Regional Hospital, Army ROTC, Partnership for Primary Care, Driscoll Children’s Hospital and Christus Spohn Health System.
Established in 1999, CBHEC is a part of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center. CBHEC delivers health education programs to 19 counties in the greater coastal bend. CBHEC is funded through the Texas Legislature and also through private support from area health care systems and industries. The center’s strategy is to work with the community, policymakers and health care professionals.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components located in communities throughout Texas are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.
-30-
NOTE TO MEDIA: Interviews will be available with Kathryn McDonagh; Juan Castro, M.D., director of CBHEC; and Sandi Pliska, R.N., B.S.N., of CBHEC’s Nursing/Allied Health Education program.