Did You Know?
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In 2011, Good Samaritan Foundation celebrates 60 years of service to nursing students and nursing schools in Texas.
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Good Samaritan Foundation is the leading private provider of nursing scholarships in the State of Texas.
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In 60 years, Good Samaritan Foundation has awarded more than $15 million to more than 15,000 nursing students in Texas.
History
About the Foundation
Since 1951, Good Samaritan Foundation has been dedicated to a single issue - increasing the number of highly-trained and dedicated nurses “at the bedside” of Texas patients. Its ongoing mission is to help build a stronger nurse workforce in Texas, consisting of the best educated and most skilled caregivers in the world.
Through the generosity of its donors, Good Samaritan has become the largest private grantor of scholarships to Texas nursing students. In 2009, it surpassed the $15 million mark in grants to nurse education. Good Samaritan programs, which promote excellence in nursing from education to practice, include:
- scholarships to nursing students
- grants to nursing schools for faculty development and special programs (e.g., outreach, recruiting, continuing nurse education)
- support of preceptor and mentor programs designed to better prepare new nurses for the challenges of patient care
- recognition and reward of those nurses who exemplify the finest qualities of the nursing profession
The Foundation is unique in its ability to address issues affecting nursing. In 60 years, it has provided scholarship assistance to students in almost every professional nursing program in Texas, and annually distributes grants to students in more than 50 different colleges of nursing. Part of the Foundation’s long record of involvement in nurse education is its active tracking of the factors affecting the supply of licensed nurses - nursing school admission and graduation rates, school faculty and budget issues, NCLEX exam success, nurse retention and migration, etc. It also collaborates frequently on these issues with nurse advocacy organizations and hospital systems.
The Foundation has developed particularly long-standing and close relationships with Houston-area institutions. In 1961 Good Samaritan was the driving force behind the establishment of the area’s first school of nursing, the Houston campus of Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing. And currently serving on the Foundation's Board of Trustees are the:
- Sr VP & Chief Nurse Executive of The Methodist Hospital
- President and Medical Director of the Texas Heart Institute
- Sr VP & Chief Nursing Officer of Texas Children's Hospital, and the
- Chief Nursing Officer of Memorial Hermann Hospital – Texas Medical Center.
Good Samaritan currently has a three-person staff. Its governance has included many of the state’s most influential leaders of business, healthcare, and philanthropy. Among those are Founder Clyde J. Verheyden, and notable Houstonians like R.E. “Bob” Smith, Ella F. Fondren, Guy Graves, Walter L. and J.C. Goldston, Lou Lewis, P.E. Turner, Charles J. “Tex” Thornton, C.B. Delhomme, James W. Sharman, Earl Rives, W.B. Trammell, and Melbern G. Glasscock. Several current trustees represent their families’ third generation of service to Good Samaritan, attesting to the Foundation’s outstanding reputation and to the importance of its mission.
Meeting the Challenge
In 2010, Good Samaritan Foundation distributed almost $450,000 in scholarship assistance to students in professional nursing programs across Texas. In recent years the Foundation has significantly increased its support of nurses pursuing masters and doctorate degrees. Nurses with advanced degrees and certifications are highly prized as practitioners, teachers, and administrators.
Foundation scholarships are awarded based primarily on financial need. Good Samaritan Scholars are more diverse in age and ethnicity than nursing school student populations as a whole.
