Thank you, Nurses!
If you’re a nurse, we want to take a moment to say THANK YOU. We see your commitment, compassion, and resilience—and we appreciate everything you do to care for others, often in challenging circumstances.

National Nurses Week takes place May 6–12, 2025, and it's a time to honor the vital contributions of nurses. Whether you're a nurse, healthcare professional, patient, or someone who simply recognizes the critical role nurses play in our lives and communities, this is the perfect time to show your gratitude.

Northwest AHEC Appreciation Giveaway 🎉

As a token of our appreciation, sign up for our Nursing Continuing Education email list and you’ll be entered to win a Northwest AHEC Swag Bag filled with goodies!
Want an extra entry? Find our Nurses Week post on social media and share it!
📅 Winner will be announced Friday, May 9th.

How Northwest AHEC Supports Nurses

The Northwest Area Health Education Center (Northwest AHEC) of Wake Forest University School of Medicine provides education and training to support a strong, skilled healthcare workforce—especially in rural and underserved communities across our 17-county region in Northwest North Carolina.

Whether you’re just exploring nursing as a career, actively practicing, or returning to the field, we’re here to support you at every step.

Here’s How We Empower Nurses:

• Continuing Professional Development – We offer high-quality programs—available in-person, via live webinars, or on-demand—for nurses seeking contact hour for license renewal. Many are low-cost or even free!
  Featured Courses:
  • The High Risk Newborn: Sharing the Care – live webinar 5/14/25
  • 2025 Aging Well Conference – Boone, NC 5/15/25
  • Clinical Instructor Partner Course – blended learning begins 9/03/25
  • After Discharge: Maternal and Infant Assessment in the Home – live webinar 9/9/25
  • Iredell Health System 7th Cardiovascular Conference – Statesville, NC 9/17/25
  • Basic Fetal Monitoring – Winston-Salem, NC 10/1/25
  • 43rd Annual Perinatal Conference: Gravidas at Risk – Hickory, NC 11/5 and 11/6/25
  • 27th Annual Diabetes Management Conference – Winston-Salem, NC 11/14/2025 Registration opening soon!
  • Rural Health Nursing Conference – live webinar 11/14/25 Registration opening soon!  
  • 22nd Annual NC AHEC Academic Progression Conference 2/26/26 - Get $25 During Nurses Week!
  • Nurturing the Nurturers – Winston-Salem, NC 3/20/26 Registration opening soon!
  • Double Trouble: Diabetes and Falls – free online learning
  • Screening and Intervening for Unmet Social Needs – free online learning  
  • Safe or Silent? – free online learning
  • Falls: Screening, Risk Assessment and Care Planning for Older Patients in the Community – free online learning
  • Nurse Educator Institute – online learning
  • Sweet Success: A Deeper Look at Diabetes in Primary Care - two part online modules coming soon
    
    
• Health Careers/Workforce Development – We provide programs for high school and college students interested in exploring nursing and other health careers. Read More
  
  
• NC AHEC RN Refresher Program - Assists registered nurses with lapsed or inactive licenses, as well as active RNs seeking to update their knowledge and skills, in returning to the nursing profession. Read More
  
  
• Northwest AHEC Consortium for Clinical Education and Practice (CCEP) - We bring together clinical and educational partners to collaborate and improve clinical education opportunities for Nursing and Allied Health programs. Read More

To all nurses—we see you, we support you, and we thank you.
Let us know how Northwest AHEC can continue to empower you in your journey.

A Special Thank You to Our Northwest AHEC Nursing Staff

HUGE shoutout and THANK YOU to our brilliant nurses on staff here at Northwest AHEC. Your dedication, expertise, and passion make a difference—not just in our department, but across the entire region. We are so grateful for the work you do to support and strengthen the nursing profession.

• Stephanie Poindexter, MSN, RN – Nurse Educator
• Ellen Zimmerman, MSN, RN, CHSE – Nurse Educator / RN Refresher Coordinator
• Alana Dodson, MBA, RN – Nurse Educator
• Leslie D. McDowell, DNP, ANP-BC, RN – Quality Improvement Specialist / QI Curriculum Coordinator

Thank you for being leaders, mentors, and advocates. We appreciate you!

This two-day course provides adult critical care nurses (CCRN) and adult progressive care nurses (PCCN) a review of AACN’s core content. The course combines central knowledge-based lectures on all testable content according to the AACN exam blueprint for CCRN and PCCN certification exams, plus a substantial amount of CCRN Exam-style multiple choice questions as well. This review is not an introduction to the environment of the ICU or PCU, but a comprehensive update for the professional already in practice at the bedside and preparing for either or both of the certification examinations. Reserve your spot today!

The goal of this program is to provide nurses and other interested healthcare professionals with the based knowledge and tools to assist them in providing high quality and comprehensive care related to Critical Care management.

Adult Critical Care (CCRN) & Progressive Care (PCCN) Nursing Certification Course
REGISTRATION OPEN

June 5-6, 2025 from 8AM - 5:15PM
LIVE WEBINAR

Credit
16.0 Nursing Contact Hours
Southern Regional Area Health Education Center is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the North Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the 
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

About the Speaker

Lisa M. Soltis, MSN, APRN, RN-BC, PCCN, CCRN-CSC-CMC, CCNS, FCNS, FCCM

Lisa brings over 29 years of critical care experience to her lectures. She has earned her BA from Western Michigan University, her BSN from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and her MSN from Duke University School of Nursing as an Adult Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine where she a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Her experience includes Trauma/Surgical Critical Care and over 25 years of Cardio-Thoracic Critical Care.

She currently works as a Senior Clinical Support Specialist with Fresenius Medical Care, Heart & Lung Therapies providing training and education regarding ECMO therapy across the country. She also lectures on various topics related to critical care, including several certification review courses. Lisa also provides legal services as an expert witness and legal nurse consultant for both nursing and advanced practice nursing cases.

This course is jointly provided by South Piedmont AHEC, Northwest AHEC and Southern Regional AHEC.

From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Nursing Practice author, legacy nurse educator and nurse theorist, Dr. Patricia Benner, will kick off the 2025 National Nurses Week with our fourth annual nurse preceptor live webinar hosted by the North Carolina Area Health Education Center (NC AHEC) network.

Celebrate Nursing Week with us by taking advantage of our wide range of courses designed specifically for nurses seeking to earn continuing education credits.  The American Nurses Association is celebrating National Nurses Week 2024 May 6 - May 12, and throughout May.

Northwest AHEC hosted the 41^st Annual Gravidas at Risk Conference on November 15-16, 2023 at the Hickory Metro Convention Center in Hickory, North Carolina. A diverse group of 150 healthcare professionals, including nurses, educators, providers, and care managers, from all corners of the state, came together to participate in the enriching two-day conference.

Building on the 2022 Annual Celebration of Rural Nursing, this year’s conference will focus on key topics that cover demographics from the infant to end-of-life healthcare spectrum for each generation. Content experts will discuss topics relevant to prevention and compassionate care for rural health disparities across the lifecycle. Program education topics will include: Infant mortality, adverse childhood experiences (ACES), suicide prevention for youth and adults, advance care directives, and hospice & palliative care.

Northwest AHEC Nurse Educators Alana Dodson, MBA, RN and  Stephanie Yoder, MSN attended the North Carolina Nurse’s Association (NCNA) Annual Convention on September 14-15 at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, NC.

Excitement filled the air on June 8th, 2023, as the AHEC Nurse Educators embarked on a journey to Iredell County for their first in-person visits since the pandemic. This momentous occasion allowed the nurses to connect with valuable partners within the Northwest AHEC region at Iredell Health System and Iredell Health Department, setting the stage for productive collaborations and discussions.

Live Webinar on May 24, 2023 - Register Today! The goal of this conference is to enhance the health care professional's understanding of current management techniques in providing care to the high-risk infant.

The NC AHEC Nurse Council and the NC Community College System invite you to join us!