The University of Southern Indiana is one of five institutions nationwide to receive funding from Heart to Heart Hospice Foundation to establish a scholarship endowment. Taylor Gogel ’13 M’19, Assistant Director of Development with the USI Foundation, said the Heart to Heart Hospice Scholarship will be awarded to University of Southern Indiana students based upon academic ability, with preference given to students pursuing a career in hospice care and/or advance care planning.
For the past two years, Amy Pierce, Instructor in Nursing, has partnered with Heart to Heart Hospice in Evansville and Jasper as part of her course – Caring for Adults Across the Lifespan. “Heart to Heart takes two senior nursing students each week for clinical rotation,” said Pierce. “The students are paired with an RN and rotate between the Evansville and Jasper locations, completing hospice visits with patients in their homes and in long-term care facilities. This clinical rotation has enhanced my students’ learning on end-of-life care.”
Pierce said that during the Fall 2020 semester, Jacquelyn Fehd, Registered Nurse and Executive Director of Heart to Heart Hospice of Southwest Indiana, participated in Zoom discussions with her class, discussing hospice and answering students’ questions.
“We enjoy working closely with USI nursing students to help them understand the important gift of hospice,” said Fehd. “The dying process is often overlooked during the healthcare education experience, and we are honored to help teach these students about allowing people to reach the end of their life’s journey with peace, dignity, compassion, hope and comfort.”
David A. Bower, Vice President for Development and President of USI Foundation, expressed gratitude for the “generosity and investment” of the Heart to Heart Hospice Foundation.
“Together, we can continue to innovate in end-of-life care and planning and afford our students the opportunity to become experts and leaders within the field,” he said.
An endowment is a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding that provides for continuous support to any University program or scholarship. The USI Foundation encourages a minimum endowment of $25,000.
Visit the USI Foundation at USI.edu/giving, call 812-464-1918 or email giving@usi.edu for more information on how to set up a perpetual legacy at the University of Southern Indiana.
