Guest: Dr. Bryant, MUSC College of Nursing associate dean for practice 

​

Join Dr. Debbie Chatman Bryant, RN, associate dean for practice at MUSC's College of Nursing, popular radio host Terry Base, and Garcia Williams, executive director of The Medi, for a #COVID19 conversation! Scroll down to listen in below as Dr. Bryant talks about the important role nurses are playing during the pandemic.
​
Nurses are often the primary point of care in communities. Earlier, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as The Year of the Nurse. Even in our wildest imaginations, no one could have predicted this would coincide with the unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19. The convergence of these two events should not be lost on us! More than ever, 2020 has brought into focus just how important nurses can be, not just across the world but here in South Carolina.
​
Dr. Bryant, a Berkeley County native, spent more than 20 years as a community and public health nurse. She dedicated much of her professional career to improving healthcare access, reducing costs, and optimizing the healthcare experience for all. She has worked tirelessly to expand access and affordability of cancer screenings, and is known for engaging patients in a way that leads to better health outcomes for patients, providers, and organizations.
​
She received her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina, where she currently serves as the associate dean for practice for the College of Nursing. Prior to that, she served as the director of community outreach and partnership for its acclaimed Hollings Cancer Center. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a two-time Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awardee as a Community Health Leader and Executive Nurse Fellow. She has also received one of the prestigious Palmetto Gold Nursing Award recipients and other awards recognizing her for leadership, compassion, and service.
​
Today, as an advocate for public health and for the community in which we live, work, and play, and as an effective coalition builder, she has been motivated by the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in South Carolina to run for office to represent Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties in the South Carolina legislature. Upon taking office she would be one of the very few women in the state's General Assembly, one of only three African American women in the South Carolina State Senate, and one of only two state elected officials with a background in healthcare.

​

Tune in every Monday morning to WJNI 106.3 FM or listen online at www.wjnigospel.com for a new, local conversation about COVID-19 and how it's affecting under-served populations, with information and experts that can't be found anywhere else. Past episodes of MEDI MONDAYS: The Coronavirus Edition can also be found at www.themedi.org/Medi-Mondays-Coronavirus. 

​

Listen to this episode below!