GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Students of ECU’s Brody School of Medicine and College of Allied Health Sciences’ Department of Physician Assistant Studies worked together to participate in a mass casualty simulation on Saturday.
The future healthcare professionals split up into teams and rotated through different stations of the Inter-professional Trauma Emergency Assessment & Management (I-TEAM) agenda. For this year’s main event, students triaged a simulated boiler room explosion in the middle of a hurricane. “We have some standardized patients come out, we have the theatre department give them fake wounds, and they act out this disastrous scenario,” said Alex Doherty, ECU Emergency Medicine Interest Group President. “We have to come in as students, triage them, evaluate their injuries, and figure out how soon they need help.” Students also participated in skill set labs including decontamination, airway support, and hemorrhage response. Each team was eager to get the hands on experience after spending last year away from in-person learning due to the pandemic. “Last year during COVID, they didn’t have the event as a first-year student,” said Doherty. “So, this is the first time I’m seeing this in action as well.” After the drama of the simulation and the interactive lessons of the skill labs, second year P.A. student Cole Deazer said, “I’m so excited to go start working with real people.” This year’s simulation event was the third annual training session for Brody students. In years prior, the medical school partnered with the ECU College of Nursing and held the event on its own.
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GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - On this day, 123 years ago, historians estimate that between 60 and 100 people were racially targeted and murdered in Wilmington in what they call the only known, successful coup d’état in United States history.
So, why are many North Carolinians unaware of the details of this historic event? ECU historian Dr. Karin Zipf says it wasn’t until college that she, a North Carolina native, even heard about the horrors of November 10, 1898. “I was shocked. This was such a huge thing in North Carolina history and nobody ever talked about it,” said Zipf, “and what teaching the Wilmington coup does is it unearths and reveals the damaging effect of white supremacy.” After the election year of 1898, biracial fusionists were elected into government. In response, Alfred Waddell led a ‘Take Back the City’ campaign rooted in white supremacy and racism. Waddell led a mob of 2,000 others that took to the streets of Wilmington; they set fires, destroyed black businesses, and murdered crowds of innocent people fleeing for their lives. “Those families then went off into the cemetery and huddled in that cemetery around their dead in order to escape the terror of the mob,” said Zipf. But the violence did not stop there. Waddell then gathered a crew of men to disrupt the aldermen in an emergency council meeting and complete what is said to be the only occurrence of its kind in American history: a successful coup. Waddell and his men held the aldermen at gunpoint, forcing their resignations from power. They then transitioned that governmental seat to themselves, finishing their hijacking with a “vote” to make Waddell the new mayor of Wilmington. Over a century later, archeologists work to uncover and identify the remains of the victims. This is work that Dr. Charles Ewen of ECU’s Department of Anthropology is very familiar with. “We can tell by archeological methods how the person was, what sex they were, sometimes what race they were,” said Ewen. “Then, you can go back to the historical record and see who that might match up with.” This year, the remains of Joshua Halsey, a target of the mob’s attack, were identified. On Saturday, he was given a proper burial and funeral. The city of Wilmington dedicated a memorial structure and public park to the memory of the massacre’s victims in 2008. Each year, they host commemorative events to educate more people. “And now, it’s not common knowledge,” said Zipf, “but I think a lot more people know about it than previously.” An assumption she hopes only grows to reach more people as the anniversaries continue.
BEAUFORT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - To combat staff shortages, Beaufort County announced a competitive wage increase for substitute teachers and bus drivers.
The new pay is effective as of Nov. 3rd. Bus drivers will now make $18 an hour, up from $13.56 an hour, certified substitutes will make $153 a day, instead of $103 a day, and non-certified substitutes will make $130 a day, an increase of $50 a day. “I have been subbing in Beaufort County Schools for 40 years,” said Mary Cole. ”We need more money. We have been needing this for a long time. After all, I do enjoy what I do, but I want more money!” With teachers out for quarantine, disagreeing with masking policies, or changing career paths, empty desks need to be filled. “We are all hands on deck,” said Kelly Makepeace, P.S. Jones Middle School principal. “Admins are going into classrooms, counselors are going into classrooms, and it’s just taking all of us to go ahead and make sure that the students get the instruction that they need.” Providing instruction is just one struggle of the Beaufort County school system. The district is also scrambling to get students from their homes to the classroom with a shortage of bus drivers. “Right now, we have teachers driving buses, we have coaches driving buses, and we have one of our assistant principals that drives every single day because we do not have enough bus drivers,” explained Makepeace. With a return to the normalcy of in-person instruction, the administration hopes to also return to normal job duties, something that can’t happen with the lack of school staff the county currently faces. “With this pay increase, it makes us competitive with the other job opportunities that are within our county.” The competitive pay could be enough to entice both new and former employees to lend a hand. Tianna Spencer-McClain, a former teacher’s assistant, substitute, and bus driver in Beaufort County, said, “That’s a lot more of an incentive. I’ll come back and sub. $153 a day? That’s a lot of money.” As the price of gas and other goods rises, an increase in funds is necessary for some employees to stay afloat. “We need this increase, we really do," said Cole. Beaufort County Schools works on a monthly payment schedule, so for the hours worked in November, employees will wait until their December checks to see the bump. Applications are open and positions are available. Visit the Beaufort County Schools website or stop by the administration office at 321 Smaw Rd, Washington, NC 27889 for application information.
PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - Step dancing is about more than just rehearsals, routines, and performances.
When the Martin family of Pitt County first moved to the Greenville area, they noticed their son Ethan was having trouble focusing, making friends in school and regulating his behavior. That all changed when Mary Martin discovered the HYPE Crew step dancing team. HYPE was founded by North Pitt High School Assistant Principal Willie Joyner and has been providing extracurricular activities and mentorship opportunities to students since 1995. “The stress of a move and losing their friends and kind of wanting things to be normal again just caused normal childhood angst and step gave him an outlet for that,” said Martin. The troupe is open to community children from elementary to high school. Martin says with her son being her oldest child, it was difficult for her to find a good role model for him that is closer in age than his father. Ethan’s teammates and coaches quickly fit the bill. “There’s nothing in the world that’s more powerful than a kid being able to model themselves after someone who has been making good choices in their life and has been lifting other people up,” said Martin. HYPE Crew isn’t the only source of mentorship for younger students through stepping. Rodrayius McClure is a member of ECU’s Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and performs with their step team. “We work with kids in middle school, elementary, even some in high school,” said McClure. “And we have Guide Right and we have Kappa League that we work with.” He feels rewarded when he is able to set a good example for younger steppers and students. “Just going back and giving back to the community... it’s always great to see the young kids and to help them out with more than what we had,” said McClure. The pandemic put a pause on many extracurricular activities like step dancing but both Martin and McClure’s teams are back to performing. GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Visitors of the new North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences joined for the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday.
With a NASA style countdown, the doors were opened to the public to explore the museum’s more than 40 interactive exhibits. With engaging activities for every learner, the halls were soon filled with curiosity. “Whether we are fighting a pandemic or battling a change in climate or trying to ensure our drinking water is clean, we do need to trust the scientists,” said North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources secretary Dr. Reid Wilson. The new learning center is hoping to inspire the next generation of Greenville’s very own scientists. Mayor PJ Connelly was excited for this possibility. “It’s going to be a great resource for people in our community to come here and learn about science,” he said. “Maybe there is a possibility in the future for them to get into a science position.” Mayor Connelly also highlighted the economic impact that this grand opening will have on the Uptown area. “There are going to be businesses throughout our community that are going to be benefitting from people coming in and looking at the museum and spending time here and then going out to our restaurants and going to our retail locations to spend dollars,” he said. One of those local businesses, Smashed Waffles, said that they have seen a lack of family patronage since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they are hopeful to be able to serve that demographic again. “We’re really excited to have a science center that caters to kids and high school aged people so close,” said shift lead Dylan Fick. “I anticipate lots of field trips over there, just busloads of people, looking for quick snacks for the kids. Hopefully it works out well.” The museum is open on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:30a.m. to 5:00p.m. Visitors are asked to wear masks and maintain a safe distance of six feet apart. Occupancy will be limited in each exhibit to be able to abide by this. |
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