Upcoming Webinars
Disaster Planning, Preparedness and Response - The Role of the Rural Nurse - 2025 Webinar Series
We invite you to join our 2025 series where we explore the unique challenges afflicting rural communities when faced with disaster. With the increase of natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and conflicts worldwide, rural nurses are frequently the first to respond, providing immediate aid to their community. This webinar series will share stories of planning, preparedness, and response from individuals who serve rural communities in Canada, the Philippines, the United States, and St. Kitts.
Defining and Understanding Disasters: What Does It Mean For Rural Nurses?
Please Note: This webinar has been postponed. A new date will be published shortly.
This webinar will define disasters, provide examples of types of disasters, and include statistics about the frequency of such events in North America. Importantly, the role of rural nurses in preparing and responding to disasters will also be included. The ICN Framework of disaster nursing competencies will be discussed within a context of rural and remote settings. Throughout the webinar, examples from the presenter’s rural wildfire program will be included.
Presented by Judith C. Kulig, BScN, PhD ,Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge.
Over Judith’s 25-year academic career, she focused her research on rural health issues including rural nursing practice, understanding cultural groups who live in rural areas and resilience in rural communities that experienced wildfires. She was co-editor for the North American section of Rural and Remote Health Online Journal. Judith distributed her research findings through numerous publications and presentations accessed by community members, decision makers, researchers and the media.
Assessing Disaster Preparedness and Resilience in St. Kitts and Nevis
July 9, 2025 | 9:00 AM Central and 3:00 PM Central
Disaster preparedness and resilience are critical for island nations prone to natural hazards. This presentation will share the result of a disaster resilience assessment by faculty and students at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and Utah Valley University. The assessment took place in the summer of 2024 on the island of St. Kitts and Nevis, a nation of two small islands in the Caribbean with significant vulnerability to natural disasters. Initiated in 2009, the partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency has evolved over 15 years, focusing on enhancing disaster preparedness and community resilience through education, research, and practical interventions.
Presented by Tammy Hall PhD(c), MSN, RN, RDMS, Assistant Professor, Professional Track RN-to-BSN Program Director, UNCG School of Nursing
Tammy Hall MSN, RN, RDMS is an assistant professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Her background is in women's health where she worked for 20 plus years. She has been teaching since 2019. She is completing a PhD in Nursing with a research focus on Rural Maternal Health.
Audrey Snyder, PhD, RN, FAANP, FAEN, FAAN, Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Academic Partnerships
Dr. Audrey Snyder is a Professor and Associate Dean in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Her areas of specialization include advanced practice nursing, disaster preparedness, resilience and response, public health, international health, community engagement and nursing education. Dr. Snyder is also a Nurse Practitioner with Cone Health Palliative Medicine Program and is certified as an acute care and family nurse practitioner.
Nurses on the Frontlines: Lessons from Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Philippines
September 4, 2025 | 7:00 PM Central
This webinar will focus on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by nurses in the Philippines when responding to disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, and floods. Participants will gain insights into the critical role nurses play in disaster preparedness, immediate response, and long-term recovery efforts.
Presented by Aris Kendell R. Bungabong, PhDNS, RN, Nursing Dean, St. Anthony’s College, Philippines
As a passionate leader in nursing education, Aris holds key leadership roles in several nursing organizations and has represented the Philippines at international conferences. His areas of interest include disaster preparedness, emergency response, and advancing nursing education.
Register for the 7:00 PM Central session.
The Heart of Rural Nursing in South Dakota
This ongoing series follows nursing students through clinical immersion experiences in rural hospitals in South Dakota. In effort to circumvent nursing shortages, particularly in rural communities, USD, through a HRSA grant, has established a program to provide students with intensive, real-world experiences to learning the role of nursing in rural clinical settings. These students, and the influence the program has on their future careers, are shared so that students worldwide can hear the impact of working in a rural setting and so that educators can hear how to replicate opportunities in their nursing programs.
These sessions are available on USD’s iECHO platform. To register for any of the below sessions, please first sign up with iECHO. There is no charge for creating a login.
Spring 2025 Series Focus: Rural Mental Health Disparities and Resources
March 31, 12:00 PM Central - Lack of Available Services and Caregiver-Child Interaction Stressors and Their Impact on Mental Health
April 7, 12:00 PM Central - Lack of Healthy Behaviors and Coping Strategies in New Moms and Their Impact on Rural Health
April 14, 12:00 PM Central - Suicide Isolation Among Kids and Elderly in Rural South Dakota
April 17, 12:00 PM Central - Poverty and Lack of Insurance Coverage and Their Impact on Mental Health