Red Cross and Sport Clips Haircuts offer free haircut coupon to blood and platelet donors
DURHAM, N.C. (Aug. 21, 2017) – Feel good, do good and look good this September by donating blood or platelets with the American Red Cross and get a free haircut coupon from Sport Clips Haircuts. Blood and platelet donors of all blood types, especially type O negative and O positive, are urgently needed to replenish the blood supply following a critical summer blood shortage.
“We are excited to continue the Saving Lives Never Looked So Good campaign and partnership with Sport Clips this September,” said Donna M. Morrissey, director of national partnerships, Red Cross Biomedical Services. “We are grateful for Sport Clips showing its support of the Red Cross and saying ‘thank you’ to those helping save lives through blood donations.”
Those who come out to give blood or platelets Sept. 1-30 will receive a coupon for a free haircut via email several days after their donation. The coupon is valid through Nov. 11, 2017, at participating Sport Clips locations. Donors must have a valid email address on record to receive the coupon.
“Sport Clips is proud to support the blood collection efforts of the Red Cross on a national level,” said Amanda Palm, corporate communications manager of Sport Clips. “There is always a need to maintain the blood supply in our country, and a free haircut is a simple way we can thank donors for their lifesaving donation.”
Donors are urged to make an appointment to donate using the free Blood Donor App, online at redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). The Red Cross and Sport Clips encourage donors to use the hashtag #SavingLivesLooksGood to share their new looks and invite others to give.
Upcoming blood donation opportunities
Granville
Stem
9/12/2017: 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Granville Central High School, 2043 Sanders Rd
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Vance
Henderson
9/5/2017: 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Vance Granville Community College, 200 Community College Road
How to donate blood
Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.
Blood donors can now save time at their next donation by using RapidPass to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation, prior to arriving at the blood drive. To get started and learn more, visit redcrossblood.org/RapidPass and follow the instructions on the site.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.
About Sport Clips Haircuts
Sport Clips Haircuts is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas. It was established in 1993 and began franchising in 1995. The sports-themed haircutting franchise, which specializes in haircuts for men and boys, is ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “Fastest-Growing Franchises” and in the top 10 in its “Franchise 500.” There are more than 1,600 Sport Clips stores open in the U.S. and Canada. Sport Clips is the “Official Haircutter” of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), offers veterans preferential pricing on haircuts and franchises, and was named a “2016 Best for Vets: Franchises” by Military Times. Sport Clips provides “haircuts with heart” through its annual Help A Hero fundraiser that has given $5 million to the VFW; national partnership with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants; and other national and local philanthropic outreach. Sport Clips is a proud sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and Furniture Row Racing’s Erik Jones, and partners with numerous NCAA and professional sports teams. To learn more about Sport Clips, visit sportclips.com.
High School students explore health sciences at two VGCC campuses
High school students from across the region recently attended “Mini-Medical School” camps organized by the Wake Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in partnership with Vance-Granville Community College. The camp was held first in June at VGCC’s South Campus, located between Butner and Creedmoor, and in July at the college’s Franklin County Campus, just outside Louisburg. Between the two locations, 44 students completed the program.
This was the college’s fourth summer partnering with Wake AHEC on the Mini-Medical School, which is an intensive, week-long day camp that uses computational science (computer simulation) and hands-on activities to study key aspects of medicine.
Students learned about topics that included anatomy and physiology, bioprocessing, biochemistry, pharmacology, cardiology, epidemiology, medical genetics and genomics. The course was taught primarily by Becky Brady, a registered nurse and chemical engineer. VGCC Bioprocess Technology program head/instructor Dr. Tara Hamilton also taught a session at each camp.
Faculty members from VGCC programs that prepare students for health-related careers — including Nursing, Medical Assisting, Radiography, Pharmacy Technology and Human Services Technology — gave students information about academic pathways and employment prospects and conducted hands-on activities on the last day of the camp.
Students not only had a chance to learn about careers and hone their science skills, but they also became certified in CPR and Youth Mental Health First Aid during the course of the program.
The students who completed the school at South Campus included Connor Frutos of Apex Friendship High School; Nicole Newton of Bluestone High in Skipwith, Virginia; Alexis Watt of Bunn High School; Jaimes Veneziale of Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh; Joshua Bringas-Garcia and Victoria Shaw, both of Cary High School; Ian Foley of East Chapel Hill High School; Aaryaan Shaik of Enloe High School in Raleigh; Jace Johnson and Colson Teal, both of Falls Lake Academy in Creedmoor; Abigail Thomas of Franklin Academy in Wake Forest; Harrison Gibson of Franklinton High School; William Stevenson of Grace Christian School in Raleigh; Daniel Asanov, Megan Gregg and Melissa Hierman, all of Green Hope High School in Cary; Kiara Glydell Gamayot of Knightdale High School; Beth Yakaboski of Middle Creek High School in Apex; Sridhanueshwar Devanand of Panther Creek High School in Cary; Hayley Smith of Person High School; Sampath Petchetti of Raleigh Charter High School; Zorriah Raynor of Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School; Meredith Elliott and Emily Wright, both of South Granville High School; Eshaa Vijay of Triangle Math & Science Academy in Cary; Phuan Deshazo of Voyager Academy in Durham; and Andrew Keeton of J.F. Webb High School in Oxford.
Those who completed the program at Franklin Campus included Hunter English of Bunn High School; Bethany Melega of Chapel Hill High School; Craig Geter of East Wake High School; Maia Sichitiu and Ayaon Yadav, both of Enloe High School in Raleigh; Robyn Hamilton, Jarrod Hubbell, Amanda Murray and Sabrina Smith, all of Franklinton High School; Juan Castro and Emely Pacheco, both of Friendship Christian School in Raleigh; Ivan Alvarez of Heritage High School in Wake Forest; Patricia Beasley of Longleaf School of the Arts in Raleigh; Madeline Stallsmith of Oxford Preparatory School; Anika Palekar of Panther Creek High School in Cary; Yanni-Taylor Shaw of Ravenscroft School in Raleigh; and Dalia Leggard of Wake STEM Early College High School.
Wake AHEC serves nine counties in central North Carolina from its office in Raleigh: Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Lee, Person, Vance, Wake, and Warren counties. AHECs are located throughout North Carolina and are affiliated with the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The mission of the statewide AHEC Program is to meet the state’s health and health workforce needs. NC AHEC provides educational programs and services that bridge academic institutions and communities to improve the health of the people of North Carolina with a focus on underserved populations.
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Guest speakers discuss home health careers with VGCC Nursing students
Vance-Granville Community College Practical Nursing students recently learned more about the home health career field from representatives of Well Care Home Health, who visited the college’s Main Campus in late July.
The company, based in Wilmington, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. “Well Care is a unique company in providing home health,” Clinical Coordinator Mary O’Shea, a registered nurse, told the students. “It is an independent, family-owned business that is not affiliated with a major hospital, and it’s one of the few five-star-rated quality home health agencies in the state.” O’Shea said Well Care has grown dramatically over the years and now serves 42 counties in North Carolina, including the VGCC service area. “It’s awesome to be part of an organization that strives for excellence all the time,” O’Shea added. 
O’Shea said she could identify with the students, who were close to graduating, recalling that she graduated from the Watts School of Nursing in Durham. “I admire you guys for sticking with it,” she told them. “Nursing has given me a great career over 25 years, and I’ve always been able to find a job that allowed me to fulfill my family responsibilities. I don’t know a lot of professions could say that they did that.” O’Shea said that about half of her career has been in the home health field. “Home health is a really unique animal,” she said. “There isn’t another part of nursing where you go into someone’s home, where you’re invited into their home.”
She explained that Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) “have a vital role in the home health world” and often perform tasks, such as complicated wound dressings, that only registered nurses would perform in a hospital setting. O’Shea noted that Well Care home health nurses generally see each patient three times a week. “You arrange your schedule for each day’s various home visits, and are paid per visit,” she said.
Next, Well Care Human Resources Recruiter Kendra Dillingham addressed students and offered tips on obtaining jobs, including interviews, resumes and communicating with potential employers, as well as specific details about careers at her company. She said that one of the advantages of a home health career is that nurses have opportunities to get to know their patients very well. “Something I love about the health care community is that you all have so many opportunities to switch types of work and types of patients you work with,” Dillingham said. She added that computer skills are important for employment as a Well Care nurse because her company uses electronic medical records “100 percent.”
The three-semester VGCC Practical Nursing diploma program prepares individuals to provide nursing care to meet the health care needs of the individual throughout their lifespan. The role of the LPN is a dependent role under the supervision of the registered nurse (RN) and other health-care providers approved by North Carolina law. Graduates of the program are eligible to apply to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN), which is required for practice as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Employment opportunities include hospitals, rehabilitation/long term care/home health facilities, clinics, and physicians’ offices. For more information, contact VGCC Nursing Department Chair Erica Jastrow at jastrowe@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3457.
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VGCC students inducted into NC A&T Nursing partnership program
GREENSBORO — Eleven Vance-Granville Community College students were formally inducted into the North Carolina Piedmont “Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses” (RIBN) program in a ceremony on Aug. 4 at North Carolina A&T State University’s Union Square Campus in Greensboro. RIBN is a partnership involving the university, VGCC, Davidson County Community College and Guilford Technical Community College.
At the induction ceremony, the A&T School of Nursing welcomed students from VGCC and the other community colleges who will be simultaneously enrolled at the university. RIBN students earn associate’s degrees in nursing over three years (while also taking A&T courses online) and then continue for one year of additional courses at A&T required for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree.
This year’s inductees from VGCC included Caliegh Katz and Sarah Riley, both of Creedmoor; Chiatyra Turner of Ebony, Va.; Henrry Reboccar-Miguel and Alexis Williams, both of Franklinton; Nigoria Alston and Dawson Peoples, both of Henderson; Rachel Spall of Kittrell; Jessica Morris of Oxford; Kati Hand of Wilton; and Joshua Miller of Zebulon.
Erica Jastrow, the Nursing department chair for VGCC, pinned a “RIBN ribbon” on each of the college’s student inductees as part of the ceremony, while Academic/Career Coach Seletha Pherribo read a brief biography of each one.
With 11 out of the 18 students selected for this year’s cohort, VGCC had more inductees than the other two community colleges in the partnership, combined. In 2016, the first year of the RIBN partnership, the initial cohort consisted of three students, one from each community college.
The North Carolina Piedmont RIBN initiative is one of nine such partnerships that have been launched in North Carolina since 2008 under the direction of the Foundation for Nursing Excellence (FFNE) to increase the educational preparation of North Carolina’s nursing workforce.
VGCC Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Levy Brown was on hand for the ceremony and made brief remarks. “Students, we are very proud of you for taking this huge step,” Brown said. He encouraged the inductees to maintain their current levels of “enthusiasm, commitment and persistence” in order to be successful.
In closing remarks, Dr. Terry Ward, director of the A&T School of Nursing, applauded the students and said she was excited by the diversity that they represent. She also recalled that she started her own education at a community college, but there was nothing like RIBN at that time to help create a straightforward pathway to completing a bachelor’s degree. “We have developed a program which will allow you to move down this path of higher education seamlessly, setting you up for the awesome success that you desire,” Ward said. Using the metaphor of tying a ribbon, she added, “Today represents you tying yourselves together with us and with your colleagues to meet the needs in our communities for nurses. You are the future of nursing.”
In addition to RIBN, VGCC has a partnership with A&T to allow graduates of its Associate Degree Nursing program to transition easily to the university’s four-year Bachelor’s program. For more information about Nursing at VGCC and bachelor’s degree options, contact academic/career coach Seletha Pherribo at (252) 738-3518 or instructor Heather Wilson at (252) 738-3393.
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Water Main Break on Raleigh Road near First Street
There is a 12” water main break on Raleigh Road near First Street. Customers along this area and streets off of Raleigh Road may experience little to no water pressure. Crews are working to make the repair; however, until the broken water main is fully exposed there is not enough information available to determine the time frame in which the water will be turned back on. As soon as this information is available we will update this announcement.