posted 2/23/24

In October 2023, the Central Alabama WOC Nurses Association hosted the 7th Annual Run for Resilience: Ostomy 5K in Birmingham, Alabama. They have over 100 participants and raised over $4000 in registrations and donations combined!

The Central Alabama WOC Nurses Association will also host a WOC Workshop on October 18, 2024 at Grandview Medical Center. Stay tuned for more information.

Kendyl Terry and Michelle Docker have completed their certifications in wound, ostomy and continence. Kendyl works at Grandview Medical Center and Michelle works at Princeton Baptist Medical Center, both in Birmingham, Alabama—congratulations!

Elizabeth Dechant from Children’s of Alabama was a presenter at Wound Con.

The Central Alabama WOC Nurses Association has resumed in-person monthly meetings with zoom as an option as well.

posted 6/12/23

Cheryl Lane and Elizabeth Dechant had articles published in the journal Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Clinics of North America back in October 2022.

posted 6/12/23

Amy Armstrong had an article published recently. Implementing an Electronic Root Cause Analysis Reporting System to Decrease Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries, is being published in the May/June Issue of the Journal of Healthcare quality.

posted 3/28/23

The Central Alabama WOC Nurses group identified a need relating to Medicaid patients with an ostomy back in 2021. Alabama Medicaid had reimbursement for only a few supplies that left gaps for basic products as well as specialty products, such as convexity. It was evident Alabama Medicaid covered the least amount of products in the entire country, only covering 14 codes. After discovering this information, the CAWOCN group made this a focus for 2022. With the help of prior investigative work by Amy Armstrong, the Coloplast Reimbursement Manager, and spearheaded by Brigitte Vola, BSN, RN, CRRN, CWOCN, a presentation was developed to present to Alabama Medicaid. The presentation consisted of a powerpoint presentation, a follow-up Zoom meeting, an impactful patient case study, several WOC Nurses perspectives in the acute and outpatient settings and physician input by UAB GI surgeon Dr. Robert Hollis IV. The requested list was narrowed down to 28 products that included things like pouches with filters, convex wafers, tube paste, and a support belt – none of which had previously been available! As requested by Medicaid, a financial analysis was conducted and presented to them showing that reimbursement could go from 14 product codes to 28 product codes and save the state over $170,000.00. The final piece was submitted to Alabama Medicaid on November 30, 2022. Finally, after months of waiting, on Feb 15, 2023, the request was approved. Beginning April 1, 2023, 28 product codes will now be available for Alabama Medicaid ostomates. The CAWOCN are very excited to have been a key part of this initiative.

posted 9/30/2022

The Alabama WOC nurses want to thank everyone who attended the SERWOCN Conference in Birmingham last week.  It was a great lineup of speakers, informative vendor experience and learning opportunities from each other. Looking forward to NC hosting the conference in 2023!

The 6th Annual Ostomy 5K 'Birmingham Run for Resilience' will be held on October 8th at Avondale Park.  This 5K will benefit the UOAA in celebration of Ostomy Awareness Day.  

For details and to register, please visit www.runsignup.com/ALostomy5k  

posted 03/17/2022

Amy Chastain, RN at Gadsden Regional is enrolled in Emory and working on her modules for wound and ostomy care. She has been responsible for skin/wound/ostomy care at her facility as well as Vascular Access.

Jessica McKay, RN at Huntsville Hospital has joined the inpatient WOC Nurse Team there and is enrolled at Emory and is working through the wound and ostomy modules to attain certification soon. She is part of a team of 5 serving wound, ostomy and continence patients at that facility.

Alabama is looking forward to hosting the SERWOCN Conference this year in Birmingham! Conference dates are September 22 - 24. SAVE THE DATE Our group is working hard on the upcoming Conference for this year and all hands are on deck preparing for a wonderful learning and networking experience this year in Birmingham. Looking forward to seeing all of you there!

posted 11/9/2021

UAB has had 5 nurses earn CWOCN certification over the last year: Lee Ann Evans, Elna Jubay, Anna Huddleston, Kristina Collins, and Jennifer Boyd. Congratulations to these and their hard work!!

Karen Edwards Karen was asked by the Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Canada (NSWOCC) to submit and contribute on a textbook development project by collaborating with others as an author on a chapter titled Management of the High Output Ileostomy.

Christy Williams became certified as CWOCN. She works at USA Health in Mobile, AL.

The Central Alabama WOC Nurses’ Association has inducted new officers.

• President: Brigitte Vola
• Vice President: Marjorie Edwards
• Secretary: Dianna Varnes
• Treasurer: Misty Edwards

Respectfully submitted in behalf of Central Alabama Wound Ostomy Nurses Association. Please share your Alabama news with us: contact Melanie Jacobs