Nursing Scholarship Winners

Just this past spring the Debbie Tascone Nursing Scholarship was awarded to six nursing students who are either employed by the health system or who qualify as a child or adult dependent of a North Shore-LIJ employee. This award honors those like Debbie, who will dedicate themselves to the field of nursing through their life-long devotion and excellence in service.

The winners include: 

• Kathleen Sirna, daughter of employee Joseph Sirna
• Geralyn Santos, daughter of Annemarie Santos
• Kelly Secko, daughter of Kathleen Secko
• Olumid Oyeleye, Mental Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital
• Taneshia Ellington, Unit Receptionist, Zucker Hillside Hospital
• Josann Matassa, Registered Nurse, South Oaks

As part of the process all applicants were required to answer three essay questions. These questions led the participant to share their feelings and true compassion about what it means to be a nurse.

"My father became a nurse at age 50," said Kathleen Sirna. "As a teenager, I would watch him surrounded by a bunch of books, studying, while balancing work and family. Once my father became an RN at North Shore-LIJ he became a different person. He would come home from his 12 hour shifts, smiling, and bursting to tell us what he experienced that day. Those wonderful stories are the reason I want to be a nurse," shares Kathleen.

On the topic of palliative care, scholarship winner, Taneshia Ellington states, "Enhancing the patient's quality of life during the dying process is a necessary and important goal. As a patient advocate, nurses are able to access and represent the patient's needs and quality of life preferences, vital to the development and implementation of a treatment plan."

Asked how this scholarship money will help him, Olumid Oyeleye responds, "Being gifted this scholarship I now know the process of becoming a nurse is mapped out for me. I am confident that nothing will get in my way. I am on my way to making the world a better place."

The Annual Debbie Tascone Nursing Scholarship awards $5,000 for a single academic school year, to six nursing students who exemplify North Shore-LIJ's core values. To be eligible you have to be enrolled - or have been accepted for enrollment - in an accredited Bachelor of Science in Nursing or Associate Degree in Nursing, or currently be taking graduate, post graduate or certificate courses in palliative care.

Just another reward offered to employees at North Shore-LIJ!