Mercy Cedar Rapids employee receives IHERF scholarship

Mercy Medical Center is pleased to share that one of its employees – Paige Zaruba of Mount Vernon – has been awarded a $3,500 scholarship from the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation (IHERF), which is supported by the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA). Zaruba is pursuing her BSN at Luther College in Decorah and works as a patient care technician for Mercy’s clinical decision unit when she’s on break from college. She is among 60 students from Iowa who have received assistance this year from the IHERF Health Care Careers Scholarship Program.

IHA established the IHERF Health Care Careers Scholarship Program in 2004 to help address the shortage of healthcare professionals and encourage young Iowans to establish or continue their careers with Iowa hospitals. The first scholarships were awarded in 2005; more than 685 students have benefited from the program.

In exchange for this financial support, students agree to work one year in an Iowa hospital for each year they receive an award. In this way, the scholarship program helps stabilize and enhance Iowa’s hospital workforce.

IHERF – a charitable nonprofit and exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code – is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iowa Hospital Association.