 |
 |
|
|
By Paula K. Lipsius
APA Auxiliary
A scholarship fund may appear to be just another type of charity hungrily seeking money from hard-working individuals. Donors rarely learn who the recipients are and how contributions have benefited them.
The APA Auxiliary is the sponsor of a scholarship fund that assists the spouses or dependents of impaired physicians or deceased physicians impaired at the time of death. To show how this fund has made a difference in the lives of its recipients, I asked one recipient if she would be willing to share her story, and "Sally" agreed. The fund, launched in 1994, is known as the Elsa Barton Scholarship Fund.
Sally was a wife and homemaker raising her family when her husband, a physician, became ill. He could no longer practice medicine and eventually had to go on total disability.
Sally was feeling overwhelmed by the stress of her husband’s illness and mounting financial concerns, including the children’s college tuition. She had to face the reality that her spouse would never recover enough to practice medicine again, but she lacked the necessary job skills to obtain employment.
A psychiatrist who knew of the family’s circumstances told her about the Elsa Barton Scholarship Fund. She applied for and received funds that helped her obtain training to begin a career. Once on her feet with a job and an income, she was able to continue her education and use additional scholarship funds to help pay for her books.
Sally commented that she was pleased that scholarship funds were available not just to young people but also to physicians’ spouses who want to better their lives and provide for their children.
"It was nice to know that this money was available to me," Sally said. "After my husband became ill, I essentially became a single parent, yet I had the same hopes for my children’s futures as I did when my husband was working."
She said she was particularly appreciative that the scholarship funds had been donated by other physician families who understood that even "healers" sometimes need help being healed themselves.
"You never know when your own circumstances will change suddenly and irrevocably," Sally said. "It’s wonderful that there are so many physician families who are willing to donate money to help one of their own in need."
Contributors to the Elsa Barton Scholarship fund deserve gratitude for making this scholarship a reality. With your help the APA Auxiliary can continue to support the spouses and children of our physicians in need.
Applications for the 1998 Elsa Barton Scholarship are now being invited. All applications are kept strictly confidential. The deadline for submissions is March 15, and recipients will be notified in May.
To apply for a scholarship or make a donation, please contact me at 9001 Willow Valley Drive, Potomac, Md.; phone: (301) 340-7177; fax: (301) 279-5821. You may also contact Charlotte Wilson at 1258 Ladera Linda, Del Mar, Calif. 92014; phone: (619) 259-4842; fax: (619) 259-5582.