2025 Alabama ENA Conference: Together for Exceptional Care

Chris McGowan is the ED Director for a regional hospital in Anniston, Alabama and flies PRN with an Air Methods base in Sylacauga. He will be completing his MSN in Health Systems Administration through UAB in Spring of 2025. He began working in Emergency Medicine at the age of 15 as a Volunteer in a local ED. He then became an ED Tech and worked as a scribe. He has been a nurse for 7 years and has been the ED Director for the past two years. He works closely with local fire and EMS services for pre-hospital / EMS education and enjoys providing educational opportunities to staff. He is a TNCC, PALS, ACLS instructor and has his CEN, CFRN, and TCRN. He also worked with a local university as a clinical adjunct for students. He has specific interested in emergency medicine cardiology and EKG interpretation which he often teaches to students, EMS providers, and nurses.

Dr. Duerring is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, and EMS medicine. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, The American College of Emergency Physicians, and The Academy of Emergency Medical Services. Dr. Duerring is an associate professor at UAB and an attending at COA. He also serves as the Assistant State EMS Medical Director for Pediatrics at the Alabama Office of EMS, the Medical Director for Alabama EMS for Children, and medical director for several local fire departments. In his various roles he has worked to advocate for pediatric patient care and pediatric disaster preparedness locally, regionally, and nationally. He is a contributing author to the NASEMSO National EMS Clinical Guidelines, is the prehospital medicine site leader for the Pediatric Pandemic Network at UAB/COA, is the CBRNE Preparedness group leader for the Gulf 7 Pediatric Disaster Network, and the co-medical director for the COA Hospital Disaster Team.

Aimee is a registered nurse with 19 years of nursing experience, with 15 years of experience in trauma ICU, burns, and emergency nursing. She currently serves as the Director of the Bariatric Surgery and Obesity Medicine Program at UAB St. Vincent’s Birmingham, where she combines her clinical knowledge and passion for obesity advocacy with strategic leadership to enhance patient care and surgical outcomes. Aimee is an active leader in the Alabama Emergency Nurses Association, where she serves on the state board as President-Elect and Fundraising Chair. She is also a certified instructor in BLS, ACLS, PALS, CPI, and Stop the Bleed, as well as TNCC Course Faculty for the state of Alabama. She was a 2024 recipient of the Alabama State Nurses Association Louise Barksdale Outstanding Practice award.

Tammy has been an ED Nurse since 1997 and has been very active with the Emergency Nurses Association and Alabama Emergency Nurses Association since 2001. She is the current Alabama ENA Government Affairs Chair and has represented our state at both state and national Day on the Hill since 2009. She is a nurse advocate against violence in the emergency department and violence against emergency nurses since 2001 at a state and national level. Her biggest platform is safety for Emergency Nurses and stopping violence in Emergency Departments, along with making violence against ED nurses a Federal crime and prosecuting perpetrators to the maximum level as a felony. She is vigilant about making the ED accessible to all who are in need, children being of utmost importance and advocating for ED accessibility to veterans, along with advocating for appropriate access for psychiatric patients.

I have been a pediatric ER nurse practitioner for the last 3 years, with 11 years of adult and pediatric RN experience. I have cared for children in a variety of settings (community ED and Level 1 trauma centers). I am passionate about helping teach others how to safely care for kids and decrease the anxiety of caring for kids in your department.

Vikki is one of 16 Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE-Ps) and one of 39 Adolescent/Adult Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE-A) in the State of Alabama, and she provides forensic nursing training throughout the state. Vikki is one of seven that hold both SANE-A and SANE-P. Vikki holds a BS in Nursing from the University of Alabama. She is employed by Children’s of Alabama Children’s Hospital Intervention and Prevention Services (CHIPS) Center, as a forensic nurse examiner for over 15 years. Vikki serves as the center's Nurse Coordinator and is the only full-time medical provider performing medical-forensic services to suspected victims of maltreatment. Vikki is passionate about working with children, adolescents and caregivers who come to the CHIPS Center with abuse concerns. Vikki also performs medical-forensic services to victims of sexual assault in the adult area at stand- alone facilities that services adolescents and adult survivors.

Lora Ham is the Obstetric Quality Improvement RN at the Alabama Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ALPQC), housed within UAB’s School of Public Health. With a background Med-Surg nursing, she understands the learning curve non-OB nurses face when providing care to a pregnant or postpartum patient. Lora is currently enrolled in the Executive Nursing DNP program at UAB. She serves on the Alabama Maternal Mortality Review Committee, Alabama Maternal Health Task Force, the Maternal/Child Health Substance Use Disorder Opioids Committee, and is a member of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN

Caitlin Ballard, MSN, RN, CNL is an experienced neonatal nurse with over a decade of providing specialized care to newborns. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL). Currently, Caitlin serves as a Quality Improvement RN for Neonatal and Pediatric Initiatives at the Alabama Perinatal Quality Collaborative. In this role, she coordinates and leads various quality improvement initiatives for NICUs across Alabama, currently focusing on neonatal hypothermia prevention, expanded delivery room packages, and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Her previous experience includes working as a registered nurse in a Level IV Regional NICU, where she provided care for extremely premature infants and those with chronic lung diseases.

Dr. Montgomery understands the healthcare dilemma. She is uniquely qualified to speak on this subject. Among other qualifications, she visited the UK as a guest of the NHS, Served as President of the International Rural Nurse Organization, and has been awarded Clinical Nurse Excellence over 3 time, once Internationally.