University of North Dakota nursing student, Jacquelyn Blessum, winner of the Carol Shively Memorial Scholarship, continued her classes online at the home of her parents, Alan and Karleen Blessum, Rugby.

Jacquelyn Blessum, Rugby, has been awarded the 2020 Carol Shively Memorial Scholarship by the Good Samaritan Health Services Foundation. The $500 nursing scholarship is awarded each year in memory of former Heart of America Medical Center employee and nursing student Carol Shively.

Blessum is enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of North Dakota and plans to graduate in December 2021.

Blessum was 16 years old when she job shadowed in the delivery room at St. Alexius Health Devils Lake Hospital and witnessed three births. “It was amazing,” she said, “and it definitely confirmed my interest in nursing,” specifically labor and delivery.

Blessum started work as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Heart of America Care Center the summer of 2017. In her scholarship application, Blessum said the experience not only gave her the skills to care for elderly patients, it shaped her into “a more caring and compassionate person.”

CNA Blessum will be back at the Care Center this summer, but also will be working in labor and delivery or the Mommy and Me department at Trinity Hospital, Minot.

The GSHS Foundation board planned to award Blessum her scholarship check in person, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she’ll get her check in the mail. Blessum said all classes at UND went online March 23. “I am missing out on clinical experience and most of the hands-on practice I would normally get in my labs,” Blessum said. “What we are doing is trying to practice the skills we learn on our family members and perform them in front of our teacher to get them checked off.”

Endowed through contributions from family and friends, the Carol Shively Memorial Scholarship was established to assist individuals particularly those with ties to Good Samaritan Hospital Association in their pursuit of nursing degrees. Recently the GSHS Foundation board of directors voted to continue the scholarship in perpetuity to show its support for area nursing students.

The GSHS Foundation board selected Blessum as this year’s scholarship winner, based on recommendations of a selection committee including GSHS Foundation President Judge Michael Hurly; GSHS Foundation board member Julie Baustad, RN; Care Center Director of Nursing Becky Hershey, RN, BSN; and HAMC Acute Care Director of Nursing Jana Michels, RN, CEN. Blessum is the daughter of Alan and Karleen Blessum.

– GSHS Foundation