Zègre-Hemsey receives the 2025 Booth Community Service and Outreach Award 

Congratulations to Jessica Zègre-Hemsey, PhD, RN, FAHA, the 2025 recipient of the Bill and Mary Lou Booth Community Service and Outreach Award.   

Dr. Zègre-Hemsey was selected for her community service initiative, to evaluate the readiness and capability of EMS providers across North Carolina to implement AED-drone technology into their emergency response system. To study this question, Dr. Zegre-Hemsey and her team will create and administer an online survey of all 100 NC county EMS dispatch directors to determine attitudes, systems, resources, acceptability, and overall readiness and capability of integrating AED drone technology. Findings will provide the first assessment of the scalability, long-term feasibility, and broad acceptability of a statewide drone network. 

Dr. Zègre-Hemsey is an emergency department nurse with expertise in emergency cardiac care. Her research is focused on improving outcomes for individuals with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and other time-sensitive cardiovascular conditions. She was recently featured in The Washington Post  for her expert opinion on how early intervention with Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) can improve patient outcomes in cases of cardiac arrest. 

The Bill and Mary Lou Booth Community Service and Outreach Fund was established by the Booths in 2016 to support faculty and students who wish to engage in community service to better the health and welfare of North Carolinians. 

Jessica Zègre-Hemsey is the seventh recipient, following Kandyce Brennan, DNP, CNM, in 2024, Natalia Villegas Rodriguez, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC, FAAN, and Susana Barroso, PhD, RN, in 2023, Rhonda Lanning, DNP, CNM, LCCE, IBCLC, RN, in 2022, Marianne Cockroft, PhD, RN, in 2021, Jean Davison, DNP, RN, FNP-C, in 2019 and Rebecca Kitzmiller, PhD, MHR, RN, BC, in 2018.  

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