Three direct care nursing home workers at the Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea are among the 2024 scholarship recipients awarded by the Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation.
Rose Julien, Carm Luma, and Kaira Vo are Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA). Julien and Luma are pursuing their Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). Julien is at Brockton Hospital School of Nursing and Luma is at Prince George’s Community College. Both were recognized for their skills and for being compassionate, empathic and sincere, in their day-to-day duties with the residents.
Vo is taking the pre-requisite courses to pursue an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) degree at North Shore Community College. She was recognized for always being a team player who goes out of her way to help her coworkers and someone who puts her residents first.
“We commend the 2024 Mass Senior Care Foundation Scholars for their commitment to this profession and to the older adults and individuals with disabilities who consider our facilities their home,” said Bill Bogdanovich, Chair of the Mass Senior Care Foundation Board of Directors and President and CEO of Broad Reach Healthcare. “The Foundation is proud to support these dedicated individuals in achieving their educational and professional goals.”
“We believe strongly that a well-supported and educated workforce is critical to promoting a positive resident experience,” said Tara Gregorio, President of the Mass Senior Care Association. “Working with Mass Senior Care Foundation, our affiliate organization, we are focusing our resources on expanding career ladder opportunities, attracting new dynamic talent into the profession, while we also continue to address our frontline workforce shortages by improving recruitment and retention strategies.”
The Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1985 by visionary leaders of the long term care provider community to enhance the quality of care for older adults and people with disabilities. Through partnerships with professional, government and academic organizations, the Foundation promotes innovative tools, services, programs and research to benefit workforce and clinical quality across the continuum of care. In addition, since 1985, the Foundation’s highly regarded annual scholarship program, designed to build the skills of our long term care workforce, has awarded nearly $3 million in scholarships to help more than 1,600 long term care staff to advance their educational and professional development in long term care.