Miatta Ruth Sawyerr, recipient of the Martha & Duane Bohlayer Scholarship for Nursing Students at CAT-Brandywine

Supporting Future Nurses

Miatta Ruth Sawyerr, a mother of two in her mid-30s, came to this country four years ago in the wake of Sierra Leone’s civil war.

Now, in part thanks to the Martha and Duane Bohlayer Scholarship administered by the Brandywine Health Foundation, she is an outstanding licensed practical nursing student at Chester County’s Center for Arts and Technology-Brandywine.

“My long-term goal in nursing is to get a master’s degree in public health because, coming from an African country, I have seen people lose their lives from diseases that simple prevention, such as basic hygiene, could have prevented,” says Sawyerr. “I want to help as much as possible to make a difference in people’s lives every day – that’s the goal of a nurse.”

To address the critical shortage of nurses, the foundation encourages Chester County residents to enter the field of nursing by annually administering and/or financially supporting nursing scholarships for students at CAT-Brandywine and Immaculata and West Chester universities. Previously the foundation also has funded multiple CAT-Brandywine grants, including a three-year, $40,000 grant that funded various initiatives, such as additional tutorial services, geared towards increasing student access to its LPN program.

“These funds really helped us to be true to our mission of serving the community and allowing as many students as possible to have access to the program,” says Patty Knecht, PhDc, RN, CAT-Brandywine’s director of practical nursing – a position once held by the late Martha Bohlayer, for whom Sawyerr’s scholarship is named. In the wake of a forecasted shortage of LPN nurses in Chester County and throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, the program is graduating 60 to 80 graduates per year and more than 200 students – a 35 percent increase in the past three years.

In addition to being a CAT-Brandywine student and a mother, Sawyerr also works regularly part-time each week as a Bayada home health aide. “Every day I learn new things as part of my clinical rotations in the LPN program,” she says. “Then I go into someone’s home as a health aide and I’m able to apply what I’ve learned. My confidence is really growing.”

Nursing Scholarships

The Brandywine Health Foundation each year administers and/or financially supports nursing scholarships for students to CAT-Brandywine and Immaculata and West Chester universities.

By The Numbers

17
Annual scholarship and award recipients

2003
First year Brandywine Health Foundation administered/funded scholarships

$14,050
Value of most recent scholarships

$154,250
Total value of scholarships