Victim in cold case takes stand during rape trial
Victim in cold case takes stand during rape trial By Ann McAdams | May 17, 2021 at 4:56 PM EDT - Updated May 17 at 5:23 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The victim in a high profile rape case took the witness stand Monday to testify against the man who she says raped her 25 years ago.
When North Carolina began testing backlogged rape kits a couple of years ago, officials say her kit got a match to a Florida man named Wayne Soller.
At the time of the crime in Septemer 1996, the victim was a 24-year-old teacher, living at an apartment complex off St. John’s Court near Independence Mall. She says she woke up in the middle of the night with a strange man on top of her. He punched her in the face, put a pillow over her face so no one would hear her scream, and raped her.
NSEA Swim Foundation hosts CPR training on international water safety day
NSEA Swim Foundation hosts CPR training on International Water Safety Day By Zach Solon | May 15, 2021 at 5:58 PM EDT - Updated May 16 at 11:00 AM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The NSEA Swim Foundation holds swim lessons for children and adults every Saturday at the Earl Jackson pool in Wilmington. For international water safety day today, the foundation partnered with New Hanover Regional Medical Center to provide hands-only CPR training for parents.
“Today is sort of a celebration of what we’ve been working on with the community over the past several years,” said NSEA board president David Witmer.
100 days: NHRMC and Novant Health mark anniversary of partnership Partnership between Novant Health and NHRMC became official Feb. 1, 2021 By Frances Weller | May 13, 2021 at 3:20 PM EDT - Updated May 13 at 4:06 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - One hundred days ago, employees at New Hanover Regional Medical Center were taking in their new surroundings and new signage, for one, that Novant was in the house. The new partnership that had been months in the making was now official.
Meanwhile, a pandemic was looming that would change the course of the next 100 days.
“It was a little bit of a hiccup but I think we did a great job managing through it,” said Shelbourn Stevens.
Novant Health Inc. has gained state regulatory approval to build a fifth community hospital in Mecklenburg County, its sixth hospital overall for that area.
There would be 22 general-use beds, another six for post-delivery and four intensive care beds within the 186,000-square-foot hospital at the southeast intersection of I-485 and Steele Creek Road.
âWe are in the very early stages of our planning process, which will include approval processes with a variety of stakeholders,â Novant said.
The hospital also would feature 16 unlicensed observation beds, two operating rooms, an emergency department with 15 treatment rooms and one isolation room, one dedicated operating room for C-section deliveries, one procedure room and imaging services.
Janet Leighton first volunteered to work as a nurse on the New Hanover Regional Medical Center COVID-19 unit in August.
Now, she’s permanently assigned to the unit. As a nurse only two years into her career, she said working with COVID-19 patients has been stressful at times, but she’s gotten used to the newness of the disease and the quick thinking required to be on the unit’s nursing staff.
She also likes the opportunity it gives her to help people.
“I m young, healthy, and now I m vaccinated,” she said. “I just feel better being able to, you know, do my part.”