Dreyer scholarships awarded for spring 2022

Three nurses supporting Parkview Huntington Hospital (PHH) while they pursue nursing degrees are receiving Jill Dreyer Scholarships for the spring 2022 academic semester.

Leslie Buzzard, RN; Edna Salazar, RN; and Melody Spencer, LPN, have each been awarded $1,000 toward their education costs.

Buzzard, a rural Markle resident, is a registered nurse working on a Master of Science in Nursing through Purdue University Global. She has been in nursing for nearly six years and has been at PHH for two years on the staff of the hospital’s Center for Wound Healing.

Salazar is also a registered nurse. She lives in Churubusco and is part of PHH’s Emergency Department care team. She is pursuing a master’s degree in primary care nursing at Indiana Wesleyan University. She has been in nursing for seven years, six of them at Parkview Huntington Hospital. This is her second Jill Dreyer Scholarship award.

Spencer lives in Fort Wayne, where she attends Ivy Tech Community College. She is a provider relations specialist with Parkview Physicians Group and holds a licensed practical nurse certificate. At Ivy Tech, she is studying for an associate degree in nursing with the goal of becoming an RN. She is a former Huntington resident, a graduate of Huntington North High School, and has worked in the medical field for 12 years.

The awards were announced by Mike Perkins, director of Parkview Huntington Foundation, which administers the Jill Dreyer funds.

“The Jill Dreyer Scholarship is funded by Parkview Huntington Hospital co-worker giving as well as by support from the community this hospital serves,” Perkins said. “It is an excellent example of generosity at work in healthcare.”

The scholarship program was established in 2004 in memory of the late Jill Dreyer, a caring and dedicated PHH nurse. It provides as many as six scholarships each year to full- and part-time Parkview Huntington employees pursuing a nursing education. It also is used to reimburse qualified candidates for fees incurred taking their final examination for various nursing certifications.

Since its inception, the Jill Dreyer Scholarship program has provided $51,000 in assistance to PHH co-workers, enabling them to enhance their skills and elevate their practice of medicine, providing higher-quality care for patients.