IHC Donates $60,000 to Diversity Scholarships for Nursing Students

Published: April 02, 2019 | Read Time: 2 minutes

Intermountain Healthcare presenting a check to the SUU Nursing Program to increase student diversityThis week, Intermountain Healthcare Cedar City Hospital presented a check to Southern Utah University for $60,000 in scholarships for minority students, as part of their Diversity in Nursing Scholarship program. These scholarships, of up to $3,000 per semester per student, will be awarded to SUU nursing students enrolled full-time, and can be used to cover the cost of tuition, books, fees, and any other barriers including child care or transportation, that may prevent culturally-diverse students from enrolling or continuing their education.

President Scott L Wyatt of SUU says, “We are appreciative of this generous donation and what it does for our nursing students. It is important to SUU that all types of students are successful together and that we have opportunities for students of all socio-economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds."

Eric Packer, Administrator at Cedar City Hospital, says, “We are proud to support this exemplary nursing program at SUU. Cedar City Hospital is an official clinical site for the SUU nursing department, which provides an opportunity for student nurses to learn and train in a real-life healthcare setting. Our hospital knows just how outstanding the nursing program is at SUU because our hospital hires many of their graduates and they are an integral part of why our hospital is one of the best rural hospitals in the nation.”

SUU student Vishant Thapa taking President Wyatt's blood pressureOne student that received this scholarship is Vishant Thapa, pictured taking President Wyatt’s blood pressure. He was born in Siliguri, India, and worked in the laboratory at Cedar City Hospital for seven years before he decided to change his profession to nursing. “I am very grateful for this scholarship, it has been very important and meaningful to me and my family,” says Thapa.

Another student that received this scholarship is Cecilia Campas. “I’m from Southern California, and with the help of this scholarship I’ll be the first in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree,” says Campas. “I’m very interested in mission work as a nurse. To prepare for that, this summer I’ll be going on a mission trip to Mexico for five weeks to teach English to college students.”

Maria Martinez, Director of the SUU Center for Diversity & Inclusion, says, “We are grateful for this support from Intermountain Healthcare. It is increasingly important that healthcare providers represent the diverse demographics of our community, and these types of scholarships support our diverse students to increase representation in both the healthcare field and in higher education. We thank Intermountain Healthcare for seeing a need and creating more opportunities for our diverse nursing students.”

Intermountain Healthcare Cedar City Hospital donated $100,000 to the Diversity in Nursing Scholarship program at SUU in April of 2016. This latest donation of $60,000 shows their ongoing commitment to this program.


Tags: Nursing President Center for Diversity and Inclusion

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