Coming to the table with potential partners and listening first, then responding with solutions, is a practice familiar to the faculty and students at the University of Mississippi School of Nursing. 

That engagement technique is a testament to why the school was recognized at the 2017 Governor's Award luncheon held Wednesday, March 1, during the Mississippi Education Partnership Conference held in Jackson. The nursing school received the District & Community Governor's Award for work done in collaboration with Jackson Public Schools in school-based health and wellness clinics.    

A total of 18 awards were presented to school-community partnerships in Mississippi's K-12 public schools. Phil Hardwick, president of the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education, also known as MAPE, said in a news release that the awards program “is an opportunity to recognize outstanding partnerships and celebrate the positive impact they're making in public schools across Mississippi.”

The selection committee for the awards is made up of “representatives from business, industry, nonprofits and education,” according to the release from MAPE.

A healthy baby home sooner.

That's the goal of a new partnership between Children's of Mississippi and Sta-Home, a home health agency based in Jackson.

The dilemma, said Fran Malenzi, director of newborn services for the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was that some babies, those whose health and strength are growing, could go home from the neonatal intensive care unit if parents had the support of a home health nurse stopping in to check on progress.

Without that transitional support, those babies would stay in the NICU, she said.

Children's of Mississippi “built a program with Sta-Home from the ground up,” she said, “so we can care for these babies.”

Available in Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Simpson and Holmes counties, the program began in December. Carleigh Jae Course was among the first babies to be in the program.

She and twin brother Carter, now 6 months old, were born at about 24 weeks, Carleigh Jae at 1 pound, 10 ounces, and Carter just one ounce heavier than his sister. Carter came home after a three-month stay at the NICU, but Carleigh Jae, still on oxygen, stayed four months.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center attracts talent from six continents. However, even these physicians, scientists, professionals and students may need help navigating local customs, language and rules.

University of Mississippi Medical Center researchers garnered 19 grants and awards from October-December 2016 totaling $8,321,485.

The following faculty obtained the largest new awards during the last quarter of 2016 (note: award amounts are total anticipated figures through the indicated duration of the award):