Coastal Bend Health Education Center to host Future Nurses Club Conference

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC) presents Future Nurses Club conference. The theme of the conference is Nurses: the Power of Caring. The conference is Wednesday, January 22, at the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in the University Center Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Students will have a unique opportunity to meet with vendors and recruitment officers from noon to 2 p.m. The featured guest speaker, Dr. Lynn Wieck, is a nurse consultant in the area of workforce issues in health care, and her area of research is recruitment and retention of the emerging workforce into health professions with an emphasis on the challenges of leading, educating, and managing the 20-something generation. Dr. Wieck has published six nursing textbooks which have been translated into five languages and wrote a monthly column for the Houston Chronicle on nursing issues for four years. Her latest book, Stories for Nurses: Acts of Caring, was released in August 2002 and has received an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. She is currently the President of the Texas Nurses Association. Approximately 100 high schools student will be attending the conference from schools throughout the Coastal Bend which include Corpus Christi ISD, Kingsville, Flour Bluff, Tuloso-Midway, and Alice ISD. School counselors as well as area health care professionals will be attending the conference.
The conference is hosted by CBHEC to recognize the high schools who have established Future Nurses Clubs in their schools and to give them an opportunity to hear a keynote speaker related to nursing as a career. CBHEC joined forces with Richard King High School, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Del Mar College, as well as Driscoll Children?s Hospital, Corpus Christi Medical Center, Christus Spohn System, Northwest Regional Hospital, Army ROTC, Texas Nurses Association, and Coastal Bend College.
Dr. Lynn Wieck will be available for interviews after 11:30 a.m. Also available for interviews are Dr. Juan Castro, Director of CBHEC; Sandi Pliska, RN, BSN, of CBHEC?s Nursing/Allied Health Education program; Ted Garcia, counselor of Richard King High School; Dr. Mary J. Hamilton, of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; and Dr. Rosie Garcia of Del Mar College.
Established in 1999, CBHEC is part of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center in College Station. CBHEC delivers health education programs to 19 counties in the greater Coastal Bend. CBHEC is funded through the Texas State Legislature as well as private support from area health care systems and industry. CBHEC?s strategy is to work with the community, policy makers, 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.