Bellingham, Keturakyte and Wedding receive 2015 Forfar Nursing Scholarships

The scholarship advisory committee of the Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund is pleased to announce that they have awarded nursing scholarships totaling $1,500 to three nurses on the Ocean Medical Center staff.

Lisa Bellingham (Manasquan), Greta Keturakyte (Lakewood) and Nicole Wedding (Toms River) were presented three individual $500 scholarships during an award ceremony held Friday afternoon, September 18 on the Ocean Medical Center main campus in Brick.

The 2015 ceremony marks the fifth year that scholarships have been awarded to Ocean Medical Center team members from the scholarship fund.

The three 2015 scholarship recipients were selected by the Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund Scholarship Advisory Committee after the committee members reviewed all scholarship applications and supporting documents from every candidate who applied.

Bellingham has been a career nurse for twenty-nine years and long-standing Critical Care Unit team member at Ocean Medical Center. She has been recently promoted to Assistant Nurse Manager and is pursuing her Master’s Degree in Nursing at Kean University with an expected completion date in May 2017. While on duty in the CCU during 2010 and 2011, Lisa had the privilege of caring for the late Barbara Forfar during her final days before her passing.

Keturakyte is pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree of Nursing at Georgian Court University with an anticipated completion date in December 2016. She is currently on the staff in Oncology Services at Ocean Medical Center on floor 4 East which includes inpatient and outpatient oncology as well as radiation therapy. After graduation form Brick High School and Ocean County College, Greta joined Meridian Health in March of 2014 as Patient Observer and was promoted to Patient Care Associate in October of the same year.

Wedding has been a valuable team member of Ocean Medical Center’s nursing department since 2010. She is currently an Operating Room Technician working side-by side with some of the hospital’s most respected surgeons. Nicole is pursuing her RN Degree at Ocean County College with an anticipated completion date in May 2016.

“On behalf of the entire scholarship committee, I want to congratulate these three exceptional individuals who truly have a sincere desire and compassion for the Nursing profession and Nursing education just like Barbara did. They each have an exceptional drive to gain as much knowledge as they can to help their staff, fellow team members and patients and have placed a priority on their own personal Nursing education to help serve all of us better” mentioned Walt Konopka, Chairperson of the Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund.

“As we celebrate our fifth year of helping nurses and nursing students in my sister’s memory, it is truly amazing that these three outstanding nurses who received our 2015 scholarships each have a little small connection to Barbara. We wish all of them the best of success in their nursing careers” finished Konopka.

In addition to the scholarship recipients, their family members and friends, Ocean Medical Center physicians, nurses and administrative staff, other guests of note in attendance at the award presentation included Ellen Angelo, Vice President of Ocean Medical Center; Dr. Teri Wurmser, Executive Director of the Ann May Center for Nursing at Meridian Health; Matthew Lang, Executive Director of the Ocean Medical Center Foundation and Lisa Klein, Development Officer of the Ocean Medical Center Foundation.

During its short five-year history, The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund has raised close to $24,000 to help nurses and nursing students and awarded $12,500 total to 21 nurses and nursing students of Ocean Medical Center.

The 2015 scholarship application due date was July 13.

Earlier this year on May 30th, The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund held its five-year anniversary fundraiser “Rock for the Nurses” at the Idle Hour Restaurant in Point Pleasant and the capacity overflowing crowd in excess 425 guests in attendance were treated to a spectacular afternoon of delicious food and live music in a concert like setting, including seeing the return of the legendary country-rock band Kinderhook (formerly Kinderhook Creek) to Point Pleasant for the first time in over thirty years.

In addition to Kinderhook, other bands included Ned Ryerson and the Groundhogs, Timepiece and The Mangos who all donated their time for the day performing for approximately 60 minutes each on an outside stage with Bobby Clark providing the sound mixing for the bands and John Deeney streaming the audio and video to the guests seated inside.

Rockin Robyn Lane of WRAT-FM and Barbara Farragher of WJRZ-FM helped emcee the fundraiser and other guests of note included Dean Lin, President of the Ocean Medical Center; Norma Rodgers, President of the New Jersey State Nurses Association; Matthew Lang, Executive Director of the Ocean Medical Center Foundation and Erik Stromborn, Senior Account Executive of Greater Media Radio NJ along with numerous other physicians, nurses and administrative staff from the hospital.

The May 30th “Rock for the Nurses” five-year anniversary fundraiser set all-time financial and attendance highs compared to all previous fundraisers held by the scholarship fund.

ABOUT THE BARBARA FORFAR NURSING SCHOLARSHIP FUND: The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund was established on January 15, 2011 and is part of the Ocean Medical Center Foundation family of funds.The fund provides monetary assistance to qualified nurses and nursing students of Ocean Medical Center who desire to continue their formal education in nursing profession in the form of scholarships and awards one (or more) nursing scholarship during September of each year to eligible applicants.The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund was established to honor the memory of long-time Point Pleasant resident Barbara Forfar or “Foof” as she was called by her fellow nurses and other colleagues in the operating room, and her forty-four years of dedication to the nursing profession with all but three years of her service associated with the Ocean Medical Center or its predecessor hospitals.To qualify for the scholarship, the applicant must be an employee or nursing student at Ocean Medical Center and must be enrolled in a RN program, an upper division program (RN to BSN) or advanced degree program (MSN, PhD) in nursing. All Ocean Medical Center nurses and nursing students from all OMC practice areas were eligible to apply. The scholarship must be used to supplement tuition, fees, lab costs, books or educational supply expenses.The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund awards one (or more) nursing scholarship during September of each year to eligible applicants.

For more information about The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund log on to the official website at www.forfarscholarship.org or connect with The Barbara Forfar Nursing Scholarship Fund on their official Facebook or Twitter pages.