The Iowa Hospital Association’s (IHA) Education and Research Foundation has awarded $96,000 in scholarships to 32 college students from all parts of Iowa.  Jennifer Arp of Massena, a registered nurse at Cass County Memorial Hospital, is one of the outstanding students from across the state who received a $3,000 scholarship. The students, who are all studying in health care fields, will also be eligible for up to $6,000 in assistance from the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation (IHERF) over two years.
Jennifer currently works as the Quality Coordinator at CCMH, and is pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Phoenix.

IHA established the IHERF Health Care Careers Scholarship Program in 2004 to help address the ongoing shortage of health care professionals and encourage young Iowans to remain in the state as they establish their careers.  The first scholarships were awarded in 2005, and now 200 students have benefited from the program.  In exchange for financial support, scholarship-receiving students agree to work one year in an Iowa hospital for each year they receive an award.  Including these latest awards, the scholarship program has provided $600,000 in direct support to students since its inception.

IHA staff, the IHERF Board, hospital leaders and IHA Auxilian/Volunteer Board members from throughout the state evaluated scholarship applications from more than 130 students, who were judged on grade point average, a written personal statement, letters of reference, and extracurricular, community and healthcare-related activities.

This year’s recipients include nurses seeking both graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, ultrasound technology and physician assistant programs.

The winners of this year’s Iowa Character Awards have been announced. Amy Smit, with the Character Counts in Iowa program, says 13 award winners were selected from 60 entries. “Every year, I think that they can’t get any better than the last. They always continue to not just surprise me, but our entire selection committee with the great Iowa teachers, students and companies that we have throughout the state,” Smit said.

All of the winners will be recognized at The Iowa Character Awards Banquet on August 5 at the Hy-Vee Conference Center in West Des Moines. Smit says Harlan High School is the winner of this year’s “School of Character” award. “They’re fairly new to Character Counts, but they’ve really taken it on and made it part of their school culture and climate. So, we’re really happy to recognize them,” Smit said.

Andria Knutson and Zach Moss of Winterset, have been named co-winners in the “Youth Citizen of the Year” category. “These two are known throughout their community for being so service oriented and so caring about other people that our selection committee was really blown away by their dedication to helping others,” Smit said. Character Counts In Iowa is a non-profit organization that was founded by former Governor Robert Ray in 1997.

(Pat Powers/Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in western Iowa’s Monona County say a Moorhead man died following a motorcycle accident between Moorhead and Pisgah. 36 year old Eric Houston was found in a ditch off of Highway 183. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials say the accident, which happened sometime Monday night, was not discovered until Tuesday morning, when the driver of a mail truck saw Houston’s cycle in the ditch.

The accident remains under investigation.