With a growing population, there is a growing need for education on aging issues like the importance of sleep. Aging Outreach Services, Fox Hollow Senior Living, OutreachNC, and Seven Lakes Chapel in the Pines have joined together to bring Tammy Williams, program coordinator and associate professor of the Associate’s Degree Polysomnography Program at Sandhills Community College as the guest speaker for the sixth in a series of informational seminars.
Williams’ presentation entitled “Improve Your Sleep . . . Tonight!” is free and open to the public on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Seven Lakes Chapel in the Pines, located at 581 Seven Lakes Drive in West End.
Tammy Williams
Williams earned her Associate degree in Respiratory Care at Sandhills Community College in 1986 and worked as a therapist, clinical educator, and administrative director in the hospital setting. She was on the inaugural cardiovascular team to start the open heart unit at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital and has helped develop the open heart, aortic valve, and heart failure protocols the team used.
Williams opened the Moore Regional Hospital Sleep Lab in 1999 and continued her education and experience at UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte to include sleep medicine neurodiagnostic training. She is board certified as a registered sleep technologist by the American Board of Sleep Medicine, a Sleep Disorders Testing and Therapeutic Interventional Specialist by the National Board of Respiratory Care, a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist by the Board of Polysomnographic Technologist, a Registered Respiratory Therapist by the National Board of Respiratory Care and a Clinical Sleep Educator by the Board of Polysomnographic Technologist.
“Teaching others about the importance of sleep is my true love,” says Williams, who is currently working with students at Sandhills Community College teaching them to perform sleep studies on patients with sleep disorders and learn about the almost 100 sleep disorders that plague our ability to get a good night’s sleep.
Williams’ presentation will discuss the key elements of a “normal” sleep cycle, three big factors that kill your sleep as you age, big medication groups that most of us take that ruin your sleep, and a tip to change and improve your sleep.
“All is not lost, you can do something to change and improve your sleep, tonight!” Williams says.
Doors open at 6 p.m. for registration and light refreshments. Williams’ presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. For more information or to register for the Feb. 23 presentation, contact Aging Outreach Services at 910-692-0683 or info@AOSNC.com.