September 27, 2005
Teens' College Dreams Come True Thanks to Major Scholarship Awards
PAMF and Sutter Health Award More Than $1.1 Million in Scholarships to Students
Twenty children or grandchildren of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's (PAMF) Palo Alto Division employees shared $43,250 in college scholarships awarded through Sutter Health's Sutter Scholars program.
"The program is a great incentive for students to do well," said Judy Edgley, a patient service representative at PAMF's Fremont Center and the mother of one of the scholarship winners.
"Much of my son's success is due to his sheer dedication and hard work ethic," Edgley added. "Any help along the way is greatly appreciated and will help Sean towards being an outstanding journalist."
Sean, who was awarded a $1,500 scholarship, entered his senior year in the Literary Journalism Program at the University of California, Irvine this fall.
Sutter Scholars is a competitive scholarship program offered by Sutter Health, a family of hospitals, physician organizations and other health service providers serving more than 100 communities in Northern California. Children and grandchildren of employees at PAMF and other organizations across the Sutter network are eligible to apply.
"We are committed to helping students who otherwise might not be able to attend college," said Patrick Fry, president and CEO of Sutter Health. "Providing our employees with this special opportunity is where we've started," he added.
"Sutter Scholars is just one more example of how our organization contributes to our community and strives to be the 'Employer of Choice,'" said Francis A. Marzoni, M.D., president of PAMF's Palo Alto Division.
Stephanie and Lauren Smeekens, daughters of Patricia Smeekens, clinical supervisor in Neurology, Physical Medicine and Podiatry at PAMF's Palo Alto Clinic, won awards of $1,500 and $1,000, respectively.
"This fall Stephanie, who is in her third year at UCSB, is attending Leiden University in the Netherlands through a study-abroad program. Then she will go to University of California in Washington, D.C.," said Smeekens. "Lauren is a freshman at Cañada College and would like to pursue a degree as a veterinary assistant."
Molly Fischer, daughter of family medicine physician Joycellen Floyd of PAMF's Los Altos Center, is a freshman at Yale University. Molly was awarded $3,000.
"Molly has known from the beginning that being accepted to Yale didn't guarantee that she'd be able to go," Dr. Floyd said. "The scholarship program has really helped make it possible for her."
The 20 PAMF Palo Alto Division scholarships, which ranged from $1,000 to $3,500, were evenly divided between first-time recipients and renewed awards.
Across the Sutter Health network, 552 students received scholarships from among 700 applicants, totaling $1,109,750.
Sutter established the $4 million competitive scholarship fund in 2003 to help employees with the escalating cost of higher education. Average undergraduate fees jumped 50 percent at California State University campuses and 58 percent at University of California between fall 2002 and fall 2005, according to recent reports.
"Sutter Health is dedicated to helping the children of our employees go to college and over the past three years we have awarded more than $2.7 million in scholarships to ensure their educational dreams come true," said Fry.
Other PAMF Palo Alto Division scholarship recipients were Jewelyn Almazan, Regina Sadler, Shamama Burney, Umema Wood, Christine Dalmacio, Morgan Schlosser, Christina Gonerko, Lyra Guidi, Lynn Fang, Kyndra Meusel, Corey Miller, Indiana Moreno, Robert Moulton, Gina Randazzo, Pierre Clark and Ashley Stauffacher.
The Palo Alto Medical Clinic, PAMF's physician partnership, also awards an annual scholarship to a local student pursuing a medical career. The award, which is $5,000 a year for four years of college (a total of $20,000), is given each year to a local high school student interested in a career in medicine. This year's recipient was Shanna Dayan, who graduated from Gunn High School in Palo Alto and hopes to specialize in neonatology. In the fall, Dayan began her freshman year at the University of California, San Diego as a biology major.
Sutter Health is one of the nation's leading not-for-profit networks of community-based health care providers, delivering high-quality care in more than 100 Northern California communities. It is also the regional leader in infant deliveries, neonatology, orthopedics and pediatrics services. Sutter Health supports more than two dozen locally run acute care hospitals as well as physician organizations; medical research facilities; regionwide home health, hospice and occupational health networks; and long-term care centers. For more information, visit www.sutterhealth.org.
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research and Education is a not-for-profit health care organization that is a pioneer in both multispecialty group practice of medicine and outpatient medicine. The foundation has three health care divisions: the Palo Alto Division, the Camino Division and the Santa Cruz Division. The Palo Alto Division, staffed by 290 physicians of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, has provided a full range of care for Peninsula residents since it was founded in 1930. It operates clinics in Fremont, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City and Redwood Shores. PAMF is part of the Sutter Health family of not-for-profit hospitals and physician organizations that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality. For more information, visit www.pamf.org.