Nursing Scholarships at BRMC

Three nursing scholarship recipients were recognized during the annual Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC) Volunteer Luncheon on Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Hosted by BRMC’s Volunteer Services, the Bradford Hospital Auxiliary and the Bradford Hospital Foundation, the event awarded scholarships in two separate programs sponsored by the Auxiliary and the Foundation. The Auxiliary’s $2,000 nursing scholarship was awarded to Katherine Gleason of Bradford. She is a nursing student at Jamestown Community College and works as a maternal/child technician in BRMC’s
Maternal/Child Health Department, said Virginia Digel-Neel, the Auxiliary’s executive director. The scholarship from the Auxiliary goes to a student seeking an
associate’s degree in nursing and has the goal of becoming a registered nurse, she said.
Also at the luncheon, two $1,000 scholarships were awarded by the Foundation from the Doris Winship Newton Nurse Education Fund. The recipients were Celinda Austin-Strick, RN, of Bradford and Martha Dibble, RN, C, of Lewis Run, said Sandra McKinley, Foundation chairman.
Mrs. Austin-Strick works at BRMC as a staff nurse, surgical scrub and a first assistant surgical technologist in the Surgical Services Department. She is attending Pitt-Bradford on a part-time basis to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Her goal is to earn a master’s degree in nursing and attend anesthesiology school.

Mrs. Dibble has been working in the health field for more than 30 years in various capacities, most recently for Project CARE through McKean County VNA & Hospice, the home health department at BRMC.
Mrs. Dibble is certified in both geriatrics and mental health and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in nursing through the University of Phoenix. Her goal is to work toward a master’s degree in nursing. The Foundation scholarships are open to BRMC employees or to McKean County residents enrolled in a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree. The Education Fund Scholarship honors Doris Winship, a 1938
graduate of the former Bradford Hospital School of Nursing. The fund was established by her husband, Joseph, in 1994. To be eligible for the Auxiliary scholarships, county residents must be entering their second year of nursing in a college or university awarding an associate’s degree in nursing. Information on both scholarship funds can be obtained by contacting either organization or logging onto the hospital’s website at BRMC.com.