Hospital Foundation announces 2020 scholarships

The Sheridan Memorial Hospital Foundation has announced that Jennifer Meineke is the recipient of this year’s Cato Scholar Award.

The award is made possible by an endowment gift from the Wayland H. Cato Jr. and Marion R. Cato Foundation.

Meineke has been a member of Sheridan Memorial Hospital’s Environmental Services team for two years and is an active community volunteer with The Hub on Smith Street. Before that, she was a member of the Story Volunteer Fire Department.

She is a second-year nursing student at Sheridan College and expects to graduate with an Associate Degree of Nursing in May 2021.

In addition to the Cato Award, the Foundation has awarded 16 additional nursing and clinical education scholarships for hospital staff members throughout Sheridan Memorial Hospital.

The Educational Endowment was initiated in 2003 with private donations, and scholarship funds are distributed annually through an application and interview process. Recipients are selected by a team that includes the hospital’s nursing leadership and Foundation board members and staff.

Including this year’s awards, the Foundation has granted nearly $372,000 toward educational assistance to hospital staff members.

Recipients of the funds can use the money for a variety of educational opportunities, including obtaining associate, bachelor and graduate degrees at a college or university, specialty area training for critical care and professional conferences.

This year’s nursing scholarships include programs at Sheridan College, the University of Wyoming and Grand Canyon University. Other staff scholarships have included women’s health labor and delivery, the Welch Cancer Center, dietitian advanced practice, wound care, surgical services and the Big Horn Heart Center.