November 15, 2006
Wednesday

Ketchikan, Alaska - Ketchikan General Hospital (KGH) has awarded the 2006 Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Rosa Mergenthal. The scholarship is designed for students who are at least two years beyond high school, and are enrolled in or accepted to a health care program of study.

Rosa Mergenthal Photo courtesy KGH

Rosa Mergenthal has been systematically working towards her ultimate goal of becoming an OB/Gyn physician. To do this she initially obtained her certification as a nurse's aide (C.N.A.) and has been working in that capacity in KGH's medical/surgical unit. She also became state-certified as a Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and has volunteered for two years with the Petersburg Fire/EMS department.

Mergenthal's next goal is to become a Registered Nurse "I decided to become a Registered Nurse first so that I can pay my way through medical school," Mergenthal said, "while gaining invaluable experience and still helping others." In December 2005 she graduated from her Certificate in Pre-Nursing Qualifications (CPNQ), accomplishing the entire program through distance learning. She plans to live and work in Alaska as an RN after graduating.

The Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship has been established from a donation in memory of KGH physician Joseph A. Shields, Jr. Doctor Shields was a talented and gifted orthopedic surgeon who devoted 17 years of his career to Ketchikan and Southeast Alaska. After Shields' death in 1996, his father, Joseph Shields Sr., made a generous donation in his name to be used for scholarships.

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