Stanislaus, Merced nursing students offered $25,000 in scholarships. What to know
Golden Valley Health Centers, which has clinics today in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties, will award a total of $25,000 in scholarships to five students pursuing careers in nursing .
Golden Valley’s Flora R. Martinez Nursing Scholarship Program is accepting applications for the $5,000 scholarships through March 31. Students from Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties are encouraged to apply.
The scholarships are awarded based on the application, academics, career goals and financial need.
The program is named after a founding board member of Golden Valley Health Centers. Flora Martinez, who died in 2014, served on the board for 43 years.
Golden Valley says the annual scholarships are offered in the hope that recipients carry on Martinez’s core values of providing access to healthcare for all people and meeting the healthcare needs of the underserved in the community.
Martinez was a fieldworker after coming to the United States in 1941. She assisted women in migrant camps with basic healthcare needs. She sought an education to learn English and become a U.S. citizen in 1962.
Martinez, in her own words, became “president of the war on poverty” in the Merced County communities of Planada and Le Grand, and helped launch a grassroots clinic for farmworkers and their families in 1964.
“Nurses are critical to the healthcare system,” said David Quackenbush, chief executive officer of Golden Valley. “We see this (scholarship program) is an important investment in the health and well-being of our communities because providing compassionate, skilled care is what nurses do.”
The instructions for applying are online at gvhc.org/foundation/scholarships or available by email at Foundation@gvhc.org.
