Christiana Care nurses launch Mid-Atlantic Society for Vascular Nursing
Nurses at the Center for Heart & Vascular Health at Christiana Care Health System have founded a regional chapter of the Society of Vascular Nursing. Officially recognized as a chapter in January 2014, the Mid-Atlantic Society for Vascular Nursing aims to enhance public awareness of vascular disease and prevention through community events, educational seminars and health fairs. The chapter has been recognized as Chapter of the Year by the national Society for Vascular Nursing.
“This endeavor is a reflection of Christiana Care’s commitment to serving as a community partner in heart and vascular health, beginning with prevention,” said chapter president Colleen McGhie, BSN, RN-BC, one of the core group of nurses on the Cardiovascular Stepdown Unit at Christiana Hospital who founded the chapter. The chapter now has members from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Christiana Care’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health is a national, regional and local leader. Vascular nurses are part of a highly experienced medical team that includes some of the world’s leading experts in the treatment and prevention of heart disease, stroke and other diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels.
In its first year, chapter members staffed educational tables at a school district health fair and a local farmers market to promote healthy diet choices and smoking cessation, and presented at a local senior center on the warning signs of stroke, heart attack and peripheral artery disease. Representatives also provided education about smoking cessation and vascular health to In Her Shoes Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps formerly incarcerated women to successfully re-enter the community.
The chapter is hosting its first professional conference, “Improving the Flow,” on April 18 at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center.
For more information about the conference, or to learn about becoming a member of the Mid-Atlantic Society for Vascular Nursing, e-mail midatlanticsvn@gmail.com.