Annie Lathan Odom Hayes

Annie Lathan Odom Hayes
Community Health Nurse and Educator
Dates: 
1927-2009

Nursing was fundamental to the life of Annie Lathan Odom Hayes, who contributed to her profession and community during her 55-year career. She made a difference for underserved women across the state of North Carolina by improving access to affordable preventive health care.

Mrs. Odom Hayes graduated from Charlotte’s Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in 1948. She went on to earn the BSN from the University of Miami in 1968, the Family Planning Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the University of Mississippi, and then the Master’s of Public Health Nursing in 1982 from UNC Chapel Hill. Mrs. Odom Hayes taught BSN and community college students, and also developed physical assessment and screening programs through the N.C. Division of Public Health for public health nurses. 

An exemplary leader, she served on the N.C. Board of Nursing and was a board member of the N.C. Nurses Association. She was the first RN and non-physician to serve on the American Cancer Society’s professional education committee and its medical and scientific committee. A member of the Governor’s Task for Cervical Cancer Prevention, she helped establish the first Reach to Recovery group in Columbus County. In 2004, Annie Lathan Odom Hayes received the 26th Annual North Carolina Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service after she retired.

Source: Carolina Nurse, Spring/Summer 2011, p.10.

Compiled by: 
Phoebe Pollitt