Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health presents $300K grant to St. Mary’s Center for Education for student scholarships

Students at the St. Mary’s Center for Education (CFE) will receive financial assistance as a result of a $300,000 two-year grant provided by the Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health.

Front row: Carley Malcolm, respiratory care student; Katherine Drey, nursing student; Caitlin Setser, nursing student; and Brittani Green, nursing student. Second row: Debby Moore, program director of the St. Mary’s School of Medical Imaging; Dr. Joey Trader, vice president of Schools of Nursing and Health Professions at St. Mary’s Medical Center; Angie Swearingen, COO of St. Mary’s Medical Center; Jim Fawcett, president of Highmark WV; Cathy McAllister, executive director of the Highmark WV Charitable Fund for Health; Bethany Ross, senior corporate communications analyst for Highmark Health; Regina Campbell, CNO of Mountain Health Network; and Kristi Arrowood, executive director of Mountain Health Foundations. Third row: Chris Henderson, program director of proposed St. Mary’s/MCTC AAS program; Jason Landers, president of Highmark Health; Steve Seftchick, senior vice president market executive of Highmark Health; Dr. Kevin Yingling, CEO of Mountain Health Network; and Mary Beth Anderson, board member for Highmark WV.

The grant will support scholarships for 13 nursing students, three respiratory care students and three medical imaging students, for a total of 19 student scholarships, according to Joey Trader, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE, vice president, Schools of Nursing and Health Professions at St. Mary’s Medical Center and director of the St. Mary’s School of Nursing.

“Our students chose the Center for Education because of our state-of-the-art facility and the quality education we provide,” Dr. Trader said. “Now, because of the generosity of the Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health, these students will not have to worry about the financial challenges higher education can pose and can focus solely on becoming the finest health care professionals they can be.”

Highmark West Virginia President Jim Fawcett said one of the 2023 funding priorities of the Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health is to address the health care worker shortage in West Virginia.

“Providing scholarships to St. Mary’s Medical Center for Education students in multiple disciplines will hopefully help ease the financial burden of those looking to build a lifelong career of providing care for West Virginia’s residents,” said Fawcett. “The Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health received dozens of compelling grant proposals as a result of the behavioral and mental health Request for Proposal (RFP) issued this past spring. The need is great, and we are honored to play a small role in the long-term, positive impacts that will come from the initiatives that received funding this cycle, both in the behavioral health space as well as the other grants approved, addressing the health care worker shortage, community and family health, and oral health.”

For more information about the CFE, contact Dr. Trader at 304.526.1416 or visit www.st-marys.org/careers-and-education/. To learn more about giving back to CFE students, visit https://mountainhealthfoundations.org/donate/.