Stanley, NC – In honor of its nurses and certified
nursing assistants the Stanley Total Living Center will celebrate its 21st
Anniversary Celebration by establishing the Ted Smith Nursing Scholarship Fund
to support student nurses. The Rev. Ted Smith was minister of First
Presbyterian Church when he dreamed of founding a neighborhood nursing home to
provide community seniors and church members with a local healthcare option.
Stanley Total Living Center is the outgrowth of that dream, with First
Presbyterian Church donating the land on which the facility is built.
The Ted Smith Nursing Scholarship
Fund is an enhancement of STLC’s Excellence in Nursing Program that is already
in place, and broadens a commitment to provide financial assistance for
employee education that dates back to 1994. The inaugural kick-off of this new
capital campaign will recognize five nurses and two additional employees at the
Facility who have benefited or are now benefiting from Stanley Total Living
Center’s financial assistance to advance their training, and who have gone on
to make sterling contributions to the well being of residents at the Stanley
Total Living Center.
The Ted Smith Scholarship Fund
expresses the Board’s conviction that it is in the best interests of Stanley
Total Living Center to develop its own `grow your nurses’ program to make it possible
for qualified employees to develop their nursing skills and qualifications. And
the benefits to STLC are already measurable! E.g., nursing staff turnover rate
is presently down to 25% from 175% nearly ten years ago. What this achievement
means for the good of the Facility, a stable work force, and therefore improved
patient care is obvious.
The demand for good nurses remains
high, and it is essential to the deliverance of culturally sensitive care that
we support efforts to provide scholarships to those of our employees who have a
desire to become nurses. And, with your endowment help, we have the easy
part! For to be eligible for bursaries
prospective nursing students must have been loyal employees of Stanley Total
Living Center with a good service record; must have met all nursing school
entrance requirements, and have passed the placement exam; and must make a
good-faith commitment to continuing their nursing care at Stanley Total Living
Center. Moreover, renewal of the scholarship would be contingent upon a student
nurse’s receiving satisfactory grades for the previous semester.
The Ted Smith Nursing Scholarship
Fund for recruiting and financing worthy students will be at the heart of
Stanley Total Living Center’s ongoing efforts to combat the regional nursing
shortage and maintain high quality nursing care. In addition to the scholarship
component, Stanley Total Living Center’s integrated plan for the improvement of
nursing care also features such ancillary services as a counseling program to
scout and encourage employees to apply for student nurse funding; a work
climate that conduces to pursuing a career in nursing, such as adjusted work
schedules and study vacations to maximize success; and the promise of
continuing education and opportunity for nurses to advance in their field.
The Executive Board of Directors of
the Stanley Total Living Center will administer the Ted Smith Nursing
Scholarship Fund.
Therefore the Board of Stanley Total
Living Center hereby invites the public and STLC’s Independent Living Seniors
to support STLC nurses and nursing education by endowing the Ted Smith Nursing
Scholarship Fund with contributions that would establish a perpetual
scholarship. The Fund’s protected principal would generate the interest
earnings that would underwrite nurse training. E.g., an endowment of
$120,000.00 generating an annual interest of $6,000.00 would fund one
scholarship per year. An endowment of $60,000.00 generating an annual interest
of $3,000.00 would fund one scholarship awarded every two years.
Or, as an alternative to capitalizing
the Scholarship Fund, donors may specify an immediate application of his or her
endowment to either provide a one-time bursary in the amount, say, of
$6,000.00, or else pay for specific courses leading to a nursing degree.
Whatever application a donor may
request for his or her contribution, however, the endowments will fund
scholarships for students to register for prerequisite or full courses at
Gaston College or other local School of Nursing such as CPCC.
For more information or to arrange a
meeting with STLC’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Dixon, please contact the
Foundation Office at 704-263-1986.
For the advancement of nurses, and
the good of seniors, thank you for your interest in this important and vital
project.
