Four Receive Gretchen Stone Cook Scholarships
From left, Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, Kathleen Fiel, RN, BS, James Smithson, Irina Solidar, RN, and Clair Beard, MD, celebrate the Grethen Stone Cook scholarship awards.
Four BWH nurses now have the opportunity to pursue advanced education, thanks to the Gretchen Stone Cook Foundation and the Genevieve Hope Blaney Scholarship Funds.
The scholarship offers $5,000 each to four nurses who are pursuing baccalaureate or graduate degrees in nursing. Kathleen Fiel, BSN, RN, of Tower 5A, Irina Solodar, RN, of the NICU, Leah Killion, BSN, RN, of Radiation Oncology, and Diannah V. Jean-Erold, RN, of the Intermediate Float Pool, were awarded the scholarship for their endeavors to pursue higher education in nursing.
Gretchen Stone Cook’s foundation was inspired by its namesake’s companion, Genevieve Hope Blaney, who was a registered nurse in Salem. The foundation donates money to support the educational scholarships of nurses. James Smithson, trustee for the foundation, joined Clair Beard, MD, vice chief of the Division of Genitourinary Radiation Oncology at DF/BWCC, Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, BWH’s chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services; Trish Gibbons, DNSc, RN, associate chief nurse for Patient Care Services and executive director of the Center of Nursing Excellence; Patrice Nicholas, DNSc, MPH, RN, ANP, director of global health and academic partnerships in BWH’s Center for Nursing Excellence, and others to congratulate the winners at a luncheon Aug. 7.
“Nursing is a wonderful career choice, and nurses are always respected. It’s great to have this award for the nursing profession,” said Beard.
Each of the honorees wrote about the importance of the award to them, which was shared at the luncheon. “Now that I’ve been at the bedside, I don’t think I could give that up. This scholarship allows me to further value my education and what it can bring to the workplace,” said Fiel.
Killion agreed, stating that the degree will “provide me with a multitude of options to give back to the profession of nursing. I will have the opportunity to positively influence one-on-one patient-care situations as well as to improve the processes that comprise health care systems.”
Solodar, whose career has inspired her daughter to become a nurse, plans to use her expanded knowledge to help the youngest and most vulnerable of patients and their families in the NICU.
Jean-Errol plans to “improve the quality of health care for minorities, especially those who speak a second language.”
“This is wonderful for our professional nursing staff. It is so important to have advanced education right at the bedside, and this allows our nurses to pursue professional nursing education and share it with their colleagues,” said Hickey.