CON faculty member uses radio segment to discuss health topics
One College of Nursing faculty member has found a creative way to air—and share—health information with the community.
Wendy Bridgers, clinical instructor in baccalaureate education in the College of Nursing, is the host of a radio segment on WBIS-LP 106.9 Awesome Radio, a gospel station based in Greenville. Her live segment, “Family Health Matters,” is a 30-minute show at 3 p.m. on Thursdays during which Bridgers has a guest speaker on different health topics and takes questions from the listening audience.
“It’s amazing to hear people in the community call in and have conversations about what we’re discussing,” Bridgers said, adding that people stop her and tell her what they’ve learned by listening to the segment, what they didn’t know before and how the information helped them understand different health matters.
Wendy Bridgers, clinical instructor in the College of Nursing, hosts “Family Health Matters,” a radio segment that educates the public about a variety of topics in health and well-being.
Retired from Vidant Health, Bridgers joined the College of Nursing faculty and realized there was a treasure trove of experts who were passionate about their field and specific health topics, she said. She reached out to colleagues from the college—as well as from Pitt Community College and other community institutions and agencies—to join the segment as guests. Show topics have ranged from test anxiety and depression to childhood asthma, thanks to the diversity of health interests of her guests.
“When I started working at ECU, I didn’t have any idea that this would be a place to build a guest list from,” she said. “They had the same passions but didn’t have a way to get it out. The segment has been a platform that my colleagues here in the College of Nursing can use to get out their passions and what’s special to them…not just the disease process but things they do research on, something they’ve found that was really interesting to them that benefits the community.”
The purpose of the segment, Bridgers said, is to empower the community and equip them with information they need to make them and their families healthier. Bridgers has been hosting the show for about a year and a half.
“The emphasis is that health of our family really does matter,” she said. “Mentally, physically and spiritually, all of those pieces matter.”
Sharon Mallette, registered nurse and clinical associate professor in the College of Nursing, was a guest on Bridgers’ segment last year and served as an expert in a discussion called “Alzheimer’s Journey: Challenges and resources for Caregivers.”
“I teach in the community nursing curse for the College of Nursing and interact with the community quite a bit,” Mallette said. “The show represented another forum for reaching out and impacting lives in the community.”
Bridgers, she added, has a gift for showcasing her guests’ knowledge in a way that can best benefit the community.
“Wendy is a masterful interviewer and understands how to prompt her guest to prepare them for best delivery on the broadcast,” Mallette said. “She is very compassionate about helping people and is eager to share information with citizens that need it.”
Bridgers said she is working on turning the segment into a podcast so that listeners who can’t tune in to the live show can listen at their convenience.
-by Spaine Stephens, University Communications