Phyllis McClenathan Nursing Scholarship awarded

Mikala Nelton is the 2023 recipient of the Winona Health Foundation’s Phyllis McClenathan Nursing scholarship. Nelton is currently a fourth semester nursing student at Minnesota State College Southeast in Winona and is a certified nursing assistant. Her experience includes caring for people in the Family Birth Center at Winona Health where she continues to provide care on an on-call basis. “Growing up in the Winona community and then working at a hospital so close to home gave me a strong sense of what it means to stick by people and understand that compassion goes a long way,” Nelton wrote in her application. “Giving back to the community that raised me is very fulfilling. Because Winona Health is a smaller hospital, the experience I’ve gained is extensive. The nurses I worked with are compassionate in helping others and it is encouraging to work with people like that each day.” Phyllis McClenathan was a long-time nurse in Winona Health’s Family Birth Center who passed away after a long battle with cancer. In 2006, her husband, Dean, and their children established a nursing scholarship in her name through the Winona Health Foundation. In addition to the scholarship award, McClenathan gives the recipient a nurse figurine from his late wife’s collection. The $1,000 scholarship is available to an individual in the final one or two semesters of completing a two- or four-year nursing degree who lives within a 60-mile radius of Winona, attends a post-secondary school within the designated area or is a current caregiver at Winona Health. For more information about this scholarship, please call the Winona Health Foundation at 507.474.3050 or find information online: winonahealth.org/foundation.