Emily Turner

About this time each year, when spring weather seems to be really taking hold and deep greens dominate the landscape, IHA staff get a special assignment – a chance to play Santa Clause.

Our Santa Clauses don’t come bearing festively wrapped parcels.  Instead, they hand out freshly cut $3,000 checks to college students studying to enter or further a health care career. 

It’s quite a treat for our springtime Santas to make calls to recipients of IHA’s Health Care Careers Scholarships with the good news – and the folks at the other end of the line (32 of them this year) don’t seem to mind, either. 

With long strings of “I don’t believe it” and “thank you so much,” these scholars react as if they’ve won the lottery (well, almost), but unlike a lucky drawing, they haven’t won anything.  They’ve earned this cash with outstanding academic achievement, glowing letters of recommendation and sincere personal statements that illustrate their commitment to professional, compassionate care for their patients and their communities. 

Here is part of what Emily Turner, a two-time scholarship recipient who is progressing toward her nurse practitioner degree while working at Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston, had to say:  “What you do is a blessing and I hope you continue to offer this scholarship for years to come.  I am honored and thrilled to be able to be a second-time winner and I promise I will fulfill my duties to Iowa and the health care field.” 

Hospital CEOs are the lucky ones – they get to read through the applications.  Yes, it’s somewhat arduous and definitely time-consuming, but it reminds them that health care still attracts its share of the best and the brightest – probably more than its share.  And it confirms that not only are there great minds in health care, but great hearts that are committed to serving their Iowa communities. 

It’s also important to note that donations from these hospital leaders helped set up the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation Health Care Careers Scholarship Fund and have allowed the fund to provide more than $500,000 in scholarships so far. 

And it’s also a fact that in addition to supporting IHA’s statewide effort, all Iowa hospitals provide their own scholarship programs for their communities and support education, from preschool to post-doctoral, in countless ways. 

It’s great to be Santa.

Hospitals accounted for 5,000 new payroll additions in January, while ambulatory services accounted for 15,000 payroll additions and physicians’ offices accounted for 5,600 payroll additions.  Some areas of the health care sector lost jobs in January; nursing and residential care facilities reported 5,800 payroll reductions. 

The health care sector created 267,000 new jobs in 2009, including 22,000 payroll additions in December, according to BLS data.

Throughout the economic downturn, hospital and health care employment has remained relatively stable. Many Iowans who have lost their jobs have turned to health care to start new careers. This is a smart move; health care offers work that is challenging, rewarding and well-paying.

Many hospitals offer scholarships to help pay for college education in health care.  IHA has its own scholarship program that has helped dozens of Iowans start or advance their hospital careers.

Out of the 24 students receiving awards, four of them were able to attend the event to be presented with their “big” checks and to talk about what the scholarship meant to them.

In the video below we spoke to Pam Delagardelle, the IHERF Board Chair, as well as the four recipients:

• Sara Fleecs, St. Anthony Regional Hospital
• Peggy Black, Iowa Health – Des Moines
• Deanna Robey, Blank Children’s Hospital
• Beth Van Maanen, Pella Regional Health Center

(Video link for RSS subscribers).

If you missed the submission deadline this year, head over to the IHERF section of our website so you can start working on your application for 2010.

By mid-afternoon, the skies cleared, the temperature rose and at the end of the day more than $130,000 was raised to support students seeking health care careers in Iowa hospitals.

Participants (more than 190 people registered for this year’s event) also enjoyed an outstanding morning program, featuring keynote speaker Brian Brown, a former world-class high jumper who now directs the Drake Relays.

While the focus of Brown’s presentation was leadership, his first order of business was to recognize recipients of the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation Health Care Careers Scholarship who were in the audience and recall how scholarships made a difference in his life.

“If it wasn’t for someone else seeing something in me and making a scholarship available to me, there is no way I would be standing before you right now.”

Brown added that his mother, despite her seventh-grade education, pressed him to keep on learning, all the way to the doctorate degree he received in 2005.

Brown talked at length about his keys to leadership, including vision, sacrifice and character.  Another critical element, he said, is service and the ability to relate to people at a level that transcends a leader’s rank in the organization

“You’ve got to love people more than your position. They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  People will listen once they know you have their heart and you care for them as individuals.”

He noted that at the Drake Relays he still rakes out long jump landing pits and helps gather litter, but one of his most important jobs is to let the best people do their jobs.

“My job is stay out of the way.  I still set expectations, I still challenge them, but I don’t pretend to know how to do something someone else has been doing for 45 years.”

Watch the blog this week as we work to edit our videos with each of the scholarship winners.

IHERF Health Care Careers Scholarship Program

IHA established the IHERF Health Care Careers Scholarship Program in 2004 to help address the ongoing shortage of health care professionals and encourage young Iowans to remain in the state as they establish their careers. The first scholarships were awarded in 2005, and now more than 100 students have benefited from the program. In exchange for financial support, scholarship-receiving students agree to work one year in an Iowa hospital for each year they receive an award.

280 Student Submissions for 2009

The IHERF Board, hospital leaders and IHA Auxilian/Volunteer Board members from throughout the state evaluated scholarship applications from more than 280 students, who were judged on grade-point average, a written personal statement, letters of reference, and extracurricular, community and health care-related activities. Those evaluating the applications noted that this year’s group, which includes both graduate and undergraduate students, was especially competitive and highly qualified.

The next scholarship application period will begin in January 2010.

If you would like to receive an application packet at that time, send IHERF an e-mail.

The College Savings Iowa BABY 529 Giveaway awards one college savings account each month to a randomly selected baby. All babies born in participating Iowa hospitals are eligible to win if they are registered for the monthly drawing. Sixty-three hospitals currently participate in the program.

“New parents are busy, but it doesn’t take much time or money to start saving with College Savings Iowa. They can open an account in about ten minutes with just $25,” said Fitzgerald.

College Savings Iowa is a state-sponsored 529 plan designed to give families a tax-advantaged way to save money for college. Anyone – parents, grandparents, friends and relatives – can invest in College Savings Iowa on behalf of a child. Iowa taxpayers can deduct a portion of what they contribute to each account from their state taxable income and there are no income or residency restrictions.

View the full release from College Savings Iowa.