VGCC information session to spotlight health programs
Vance-Granville Community College will hold a Health Care Programs Information Session on Wednesday, March 15, at noon, in Room G1131 on the college’s South Campus, located between Creedmoor and Butner.
Information will be available about curriculum programs in Radiography, Histotechnology, Pharmacy Technology, Medical Assisting, Human Services Technology, Medical Office Administration and Medical Office Administration – Coding Specialist, along with Continuing Education programs such as Health Unit Coordinator and Nurse Aide.
The session is open to anyone interested in exploring opportunities in such programs, including current VGCC students and high school students considering college options.
After receiving information about VGCC, attendees will tour the curriculum programs that are based at South Campus: Human Services Technology, which trains students for entry-level jobs in the helping professions and includes special degree tracks in Gerontology and in Substance Abuse; and Radiography, the degree program that prepares graduates to skilled health care professionals who use radiation to produce images of the human body.
Histotechnology, VGCC’s newest curriculum program, provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare tissue specimens for microscopic examination using various stains and dyes to identify tissue and cell structures. The program is based at VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County.
Pharmacy Technology, also based at Main Campus, trains pharmacy technicians for positions in hospitals, nursing homes, private and chain drug stores, research laboratories, wholesale drug companies and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. The program offers both a diploma and an associate degree option.
Medical Assisting, based at the college’s Franklin County Campus, prepares multi-skilled health care professionals qualified to perform administrative, clinical and laboratory procedures. That program also offers both a diploma and a two-year degree.
Medical Office Administration prepares individuals for employment in medical and other health-care-related offices. Both a general and a Coding Specialist degree track are offered, along with Medical Coding Specialist and Medical Transcription Specialist certificates.
Continuing education programs like Nurse Aide, Medication Aide, Phlebotomy, Medical Office Assistant and Health Unit Coordinator offer short-term training and are offered at various locations throughout the year.
For more information, contact Dean of Health Sciences Angela Thomas at (252) 738-3397 or thomasa@vgcc.edu.
–VGCC–
HPD Crime of the Month: Individual injured after drive-by shooting
Press Release: March 1, 2017
On February 25, 2017 at approximately 11:50 PM officers with the Henderson Police Department responded to Maria Parham Health in reference to a shooting into an occupied vehicle. Upon arrival, officers spoke with Nakiya Cheek who stated that while at a stop sign at Davis and Nicholas Street a vehicle drove pass and a subject opened fire into her vehicle. As a result Cheek sustained injuries from broken glass.
The investigation is being conducted by members of the Henderson Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. If anyone should have any information related to this case, they are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 252-492-1925 or the Henderson Police Department at 252-438-4141. Crime Stoppers offers a reward of up to $2,000 for information that may lead to an arrest. Callers may remain anonymous.
Authority: Chief M.W. Barrow
HPD Crime of the Month: Bullet Hole Found in Rear Window of Parked Car
Press Release: March 1, 2017
On February 27, 2017 at approximately 8:45 AM officers with the Henderson Police Department responded to 84 Ranes Drive in reference to property damage to a vehicle. Upon arrival, officers spoke with Kelly Puryear who stated that she found a bullet hole in the rear window of her vehicle.
The investigation is being conducted by members of the Henderson Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. If anyone should have any information related to this case, they are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 252-492-1925 or the Henderson Police Department at 252-438-4141. Crime Stoppers offers a reward of up to $2,000 for information that may lead to an arrest. Callers may remain anonymous.
Authority: Chief M.W. Barrow
Get M.A.D. and Make A Difference
The local Henderson Family YMCA wants you to get M.A.D. in March and Make A Difference in the life of a child. Per information below from the YMCA, you can help and participate in a number of ways.
Ryan Beckham Davis, daughter of Kim Davis, our Youth Programs Director, LOVED camp at the Henderson Family YMCA! She began participating in Y Programs as soon as she could at age 4. For two years Ryan was involved in girls basketball, spring soccer, T-ball, fall soccer, swimming lessons and after school and summer day camp. Unfortunately, Ryan’s life was cut way too short in 2004 in an ATV accident. The YMCA staff wanted to honor Ryan’s life and began the Ryan Davis Memorial Endowment Fund in 2005. The Endowment funds scholarships for Summer Day Camp and applications are made available to the public every year prior to the beginning of camp. The recipients are selected by an anonymous committee. Since the Endowment began, over 65 children have had the opportunity to experience the Best Summer Ever at Camp Splash-n-Dash.
To fund the endowment each year, the Y holds an event to raise money in memory of Ryan. There have been Spin-a-thons, Fitness Frenzy’s and Zumbathon’s to name a few. This year we are asking the entire membership and community to join us in getting M.A.D…making a difference in the life of a child by participating in any or all of the following activities:
March 1-31 – COIN drive (containers will be placed throughout the building)
March 6-10 – Membership Special (In lieu of joining fee make a donation of $50 for individual or $62.50 for family to the endowment)
March 11 – Basketball Shootout beginning at Noon (‘shooters’ are asked to represent their businesses and organizations & get their ‘FAN CLUB’ to help sponsor them for $100 and see who the best ‘shooter’ is in our area)
March 17 – Bake Sale (baked goods individually wrapped ready for sale are welcome)
March 18 – Pickleball Tournament beginning at 9:00 A.M. – $10 for members and $20 for non-members to participate.
March 25 – M.A.D. Move-a-thon – Matilda and various Zumba Instructors will lead classes from 8:00 – 11:00 A.M. in the Gym while Willie, Chris and Rob will lead an Outdoor Madness on the field from 9:00 – 11:00 A.M. – $10 for members and $20 for non-members
March 31 – Flick-n-Float in the pool at 6:30 P.M. Join us for an age appropriate movie for families while floating in the pool. $5/person.To participate in the activities during GOING M.A.D. IN MARCH, please register at Member Services. We will have buttons for staff to wear to help promote the campaign. Our goal is $10,000 in March to help send 10 or more deserving children to the best summer ever at SPLASH-N-DASH!
Volunteers are needed! If you know of anyone that would like to help with any of the activities, please let Julia know or offer a volunteer application because all volunteers must apply and have background checks. We can get our membership excited about all of it if we let our enthusiasm lead the way so GET M.A.D. IN MARCH and Make A Difference in the life of a child!
Congressman Butterfield Reintroduces RACE for Children Act
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-01) joined U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Cory Gardner (R-CO), along with U.S. Representatives Michael T. McCaul (R-TX-10), Sean Duffy (R-WI-07), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09) to reintroduce the RACE for Children Act (Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity for Children Act) to support the development of innovative and promising cancer drugs for children.
The bipartisan bill, first introduced in the 114th Congress, would update the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) to reflect the latest advances in cancer drugs. PREA was enacted by Congress in 2003 to address the scarcity of information about how to treat children with drugs developed for adults, and therefore develop pediatric data during drug development. Although PREA has resulted in new information on how to treat children for a multitude of drugs over the years, there are still limited pediatric studies for cancer drugs.
“As co-chair of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the RACE for Children Act,” Butterfield said. “Researchers in North Carolina and across the country are taking promising steps in diagnosing and treating children with cancer. Still, the law lags behind the current advances in treatment of childhood cancer. This bill will update the law to provide researchers with the tools they need to accelerate the search for innovative, life-saving treatments for childhood cancers.”
“In Colorado and around the country, researchers are making dramatic advances to treat and cure cancer, but there is even more we can do for our kids,” Bennet said. “This legislation is a necessary update to our laws and has the potential to save thousands of children’s lives. I look forward to continue working with parents, researchers, and other advocates to advance this bill to expand treatment options for children.”
“Pediatric cancer impacts too many families in Florida and across the nation, including my own,” Rubio said. “I am proud to reintroduce the RACE for Children Act, which would encourage more treatment options for children battling against cancer. This bill takes a further step in extending medical advances in adult cancer treatment to children fighting this horrific disease. I am especially honored to reintroduce this bill on behalf of the many advocates who have relentlessly fought to get more attention, funding and resources for childhood cancer. I look forward to continuing my work with them to make this crucial legislation a law.”
“No childhood should be interrupted by a struggle for survival, but cancer tragically puts far too many kids in Maryland and across the country in a battle for their lives,” Van Hollen said. “Researchers at institutions like the National Institutes of Health have made important progress on cancer research, and our laws need to reflect this. Our bill would update statutes around drug development to reflect recent advancements to research, which will help save children and their families from the misery of this horrific disease.”
“The RACE for Children Act has the potential to increase access of life-saving cancer treatment and treatment for other serious illnesses for children by expanding pediatric studies,” Gardner said. “This bipartisan, commonsense legislation paves the way for scientific breakthroughs and has the potential to not only mitigate suffering for pediatric cancer patients, but also save lives.”
“Researchers have made tremendous strides in fighting cancer in adults, using ‘molecular targeting’ to precisely attack cancer cells,” McCaul said. “However, current law does not reflect such advances in cancer drug development because these therapies have been under-studied in pediatric cancer. As the founder of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, I am pleased to re-introduce the RACE for Children Act because it will modernize current law to require pediatric studies for the most promising and innovative cancer treatments. I look forward to continuing the good fight with my colleagues and the advocacy community to give hope to the approximately 15,000 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer each year.”
“We’ve come a long way in the battle against childhood cancer, but we need the RACE for Children Act to beat this disease,” Duffy said. “Our laws must be brought into the twenty-first century so that our nation’s children can benefit from cutting-edge research and development.”
“More children are lost to cancer in the U.S. than any other disease. In fact, before they turn 20, about 1 in 285 children in the U.S. will have cancer—a tragedy that touches too many American families,” Clarke said. “I’m proud to join with my colleagues in introducing The RACE for Children Act, which will help advance research into lifesaving cures. Together, we can promote the development of new treatments and combat this deadly disease.”
PREA does not apply to cancer because children’s cancers arise in different organs than adult cancers, and as a result, most pharmaceutical companies receive waivers from PREA obligations. However, scientific advances have shown that some childhood and adult cancers may share the same molecular targets, and cancer drug development is now focused on advancements in molecular targets.
The RACE for Children Act would update PREA by reflecting this new and promising approach to cancer drug development using molecular targets. Unlike the current structure of PREA, which applies to specific indications or specific types of cancer, this legislation would allow PREA to focus on a molecular target in a specific adult cancer when the same target presents in another childhood cancer. Currently, a PREA exemption may also be applied if the company studies the drug in an adult cancer that occurs in less than 200,000 patients. The bill would allow pediatric studies with a particular molecular target to still be considered for these cancers.
The bill is supported by the Duke University Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Nemours Children’s Health System, NYU Langone Medical Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, and more than 100 pediatric cancer advocacy organizations.
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Famed Virginia State University Chorale to Visit McGregor Hall
The VSUAA-Greater Triangle Alumni Chapter (NC) is proud to present the renowned Virginia State University Gospel Chorale in concert on Sunday, April 2, 2017 in concert at the McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 3.30 p.m.
The Mistress of Ceremony will be Ms. Phyllis Coley CEO/ Publisher of Spectacular Magazine and Former Host/ Producer of Spectacular Magazine Radio Show, both of Durham, North Carolina. Various acts will open the concert: The South Warren Elementary School Visual & Performing Arts Group from Warrenton, NC under the direction of Mr. Cameron Eaton and Mrs. Morgan Perry; Mr. Joezell Charles, a saxophonist, who is Band Director at Eaton-Johnson Middle School, Henderson, NC; Mrs. Sandra Gibson,Mrs. Black NC 2011/ Smooth Jazz-R&B Vocalist, Apex, NC.
Among The Virginia State University Chorale’s numerous accolades and accomplishments are the following: 2016 National College Choir Competition Winner; 2015 Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards- Best Church Choir; 2013 America’s Got Talent- Season 8 Quarter Finals; 2012 Verizon’s “ How Sweet the Sound”-DC Regional People’s Choice Award Winner.
Advance tickets for the event are $10 each, online tickets are $10 each with nominal processing fee ( https://vsugospel.bpt.me ), and at door tickets are $15 each. For more information and/or advance tickets, please contact the following: Henderson area- DeAnna Lewis at dlewis@warrenk12nc.org, Dennis M. Snead at 1906rbl@gmail.com, Cicily Marsh at missceecee@gmail.com, Taylor Whitehead at mrknowitall91@aol.com ; Raleigh area- Anita Jackson at Tlcanj@gmail.com, Orlando Conner at ozat@bellsouth.net ; Durham area- Faye Watkins at fayewatkins75@gmail.com, Vivian Lewis at vivianlewis30@hotmail.com .
Chartered in 2016 as the 46th chapter of the Virginia State University Alumni Association (VSUAA), Greater Triangle Area Chapter (NC) Inc., is actively working to support students who live in our area and aspire to attend our Alma Mater.
The Virginia State University Gospel Chorale History, Achievements, and Highlights
Founded in 1971 by Ms. Jackie Ruffin (formerly of the Richard Smallwood Singers) and Mr. Larry Bland as the Larry Bland Gospel Ensemble. The name was later changed to the Virginia State College Gospel Choir.
Recorded its first album, “Everyday with Jesus,” in 1977. After the success of this album, the choir then recorded a second album, “He’s Able,” in 1978. The choir recorded its third CD, “Virginia State University Gospel Chorale: Live in Concert,” in 2003.
Has participated off-and-on in a number of competitions. The most notable competition was the National Black Music Caucus Gospel Competition in New York City, where the choir won first place in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1996, and 2003, and second place in 1985 and 2006.
Has toured nationally in the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Alabama, Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington, DC. Has toured internationally (most recently in 2013 and 2015) in U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, and Europe (Italy, Hungary, France, Switzerland, and Romania), performing each time at the annual Pope’s Vatican Christmas Concert.
Has performed on the same stage as gospel-recording artists Cheryl “CoCo” Clemons of R&B group SWV, Mary Mary, Tye Tribbett, Earnest Pugh, Hezekiah Walker, JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise, and poet Nikki Giovanni.
Made history in September 2012 by competing in How Sweet the Sound, a Verizon experience. Out of the thousands of video entries submitted, the choir was one forty-two choirs, and only one of four college choirs, to compete in the regional competitions around the country. Although the choir did not advance to the grand finale, it would go on to win the 2012 DC Region’s People Choice Award and garner local, regional, and national acclaim.
Made history again in January 2013 by being selected to perform at the DC Citywide Interfaith Food Drive, which was part of President Obama’s National Day of Service. This was part of the official Presidential Inauguration Activities.
In probably their biggest accomplishment to date, was a quarterfinalist is season 8 (2013) of “America’s Got Talent.” This not only garnered national and international exposure for the Chorale, but for the University as well.
Performed at the historic Virginia gubernatorial inauguration of Terence “Terry” McAuliffe in January 2014.
In February 2014, travelled to Bridgetown, Barbados by special invitation to perform as special guest at their Black History month festivities.
Winner of the 2015 Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards’ Best Church Choir.
Winner of the 2016 National College Choir Explosion.
The VSU Gospel Chorale is currently listed under the word “choir” in the Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Additionally, the Chorale is included in two music appreciation textbooks in the gospel music sections.
The choir is currently blessed to have approximately 100 choir members and five musicians – a colorful mix of races, nationalities, and geographical backgrounds. The Chorale is under the leadership of Mr. James Holden Jr. (Faculty Advisor), Perry Evans II (Director), Mr. Michael Rainey (Business Manager), and Mr. Mark Johnson (Musical Director).