Good Samaritan Foundation Awards Scholarships

(June 20, 2006) -- Twenty-two area students have been awarded scholarships by Good Samaritan Foundation, Inc. at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center as part of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Joan C. Krammes Memorial Scholarship Nursing Education programs for the 2006-07 academic year.

The purpose of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Scholarship Program is to offer assistance to current high school graduates, and those employees and their dependents already enrolled in post-secondary institutions, who desire to, or are continuing their education in a healthcare-related field. The scholarship is based on merit, academic promise and community service. Extra consideration is also given to those applicants whose chosen field of study is in a special healthcare-related field where a community need has been demonstrated.

New this year is the Helen Deitrich Award, as part of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Scholarship Program. Mrs. Deitrich, who passed away in 2005, was an original member of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Scholarship Committee and a former member of the Good Samaritan Foundation Board of Trustees. She was a longtime educator at Pottsville Area.

High school recipients are:

• Amanda Aucker, Pottsville, a 2006 graduate of Minersville Area High School, who will be attending Lebanon Valley College to study physical therapy;
• Tavia Bachert, Tamaqua, a 2006 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, who will be attending Slippery Rock University to study health psychology;
• Nicole Hale, Pine Grove, a 2006 graduate of Blue Mountain High School, who will be attending Moravian College to major in nursing;
• Steven Kheloussi, Pottsville, a 2006 graduate of Pottsville Area High School, who will be attending Wilkes University as a pharmacy major;

• Kimberly Miller, Schuylkill Haven, a 2006 graduate of Blue Mountain High School, who will be attending Villanova University as a nursing major;
• Jennifer Reilly, Pottsville, a 2006 graduate of Pottsville Area High School, who will be attending Lebanon Valley College to study physical therapy; Jennifer received the Helen Deitrich Award;
• Joann Sauceda, Mahanoy City, a 2006 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, who  will be attending DeSales University to study nursing;
• Sarah Swankoski, Coaldale, a 2006 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, who will be attending College Misericordia to study nursing;
• Kristen Henne, Tamaqua, a 2006 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, who will be attending Marywood University to study speech pathology;
• Michael Rowen, Frackville, a 2006 graduate of North Schuylkill, who will be attending Bloomsburg University to study nursing;

Other St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Scholarship recipients are:

• Tawnya Bensinger, Pottsville, a pharmacy major at Wilkes University;
• Michelle Canfield, Schuylkill Haven, a masters student in Healthcare Management at Alvernia College;
• Jacqueline Hock, Pottsville, a pharmacy student at Wilkes University;
• John Lucas, Pottsville, a nursing student at California University of Pennsylvania;
• Christine Reichert, Schuylkill Haven, a nursing student at Lehigh Carbon Community College;
• Jennifer Schaffer, Shenandoah, a radiology technology student at Penn State University;
• Denise Searles, Frackville, a student in chief radiology technology at University of St. Francis;
• Rebecca Toothaker, MarLin, MSN student at University of Phoenix;
• Stephanie Wallace, Pottsville, a nursing student at the University of Pittsburgh;

• Tracy Yeastadt, Schuylkill Haven, a phlebotomy student at Lackawanna County Junior College;
• Margaret  Zawisza, Orwigsburg, a medical student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The Joan C. Krammes Memorial Scholarship for Nursing Education was awarded to Mark Voydik, Schuylkill Haven. Mark is a nursing student at Pottsville Hospital School of Nursing, and is also employed as a telemetry technician at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. This scholarship honors the memory of Joan C. Krammes, a Good Samaritan emergency department nurse and supervisor for 27 years, before she passed away in 2004.

“On behalf of the Foundation staff and board of trustees, it gives us great pleasure and satisfaction to present these awards. Hopefully these awards will make their paths to success just a little smoother,” said Denise A. Foran, executive director of the Good Samaritan Foundation.

The scholarship selection committee is co-chaired by Foundation Trustees Agnes Reiley, Pottsville, and Dr. Melissa Burke, Schuylkill Haven. Other committee members are: Daun Corse Phillips and Beth Travis, both of Orwigsburg; and Atty. Joseph Troy, Schuylkill Haven.