The Fall 2021 Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc. Healthcare Professional Scholarship Winner

Tom Lin

Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc. is pleased to announce the Fall 2021 recipient of our Healthcare Professional Scholarship, graduate student Tom Lin. Our scholarship team selected Tom based on the essay he submitted with his application, in which he details how this scholarship would benefit or further his education.

Read Tom’s Essay:

This scholarship will help further my education of becoming a graduate in the Graduate Entry Master of Science program at the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University, with specialization focused in Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, after seeing the impact that mental illness has on patients and families, while working at the Ohio State Harding Hospital, as well as from working and living with others who are battling mental illness themselves. I’ve met patients who do things that they couldn’t explain, and at the end, ashamed of what they did or are still doing, despite still being unable to control themselves. I also saw the impact mental illness had on their friends and families, who sat with them in visiting areas, trying to explain why the patients were locked in the units, or why they’re staying there until the time they can be released, looking helpless because this is all that they can do for them. I’ve seen family members crying outside the building because they couldn’t believe how fast the patient’s mental state has slipped or changed, or disbelief that a person can change so quickly, from acting normal in the morning to violent or suicidal in the evening on the same day.

I also observed the positive impacts that nurses and doctors make at the hospital. Their constant care and conversation with patients and their families, about why medication and counseling are important, patiently explaining the steps and repeating instructions towards the patient’s recovery, have reunited patients with their parents, loved ones, and sometimes even their children.

This focus will remain as I become a leader and advocate for my future patients, and it’s a focus that carries even my actions in daily life; like listening to associate regarding his medication, the reason that he stopped taking them because it made his stomach hurt. Recalling what I’ve learned from my prerequisite classes, I was able to explain a probable cause to this, suggesting an alternative way to take them. The alternate way worked and he was able to finish his medications and heal properly before his follow-up. My education background and experience in the medical field makes me believe that I’ll be able to use the knowledge I gain from the program to spread our focus of health and wellbeing, and allow our patients to live a life that they want and feel happy with.

With this scholarship, I hope to bring those goals to fruition, improving lives to everyone that I meet in my career. I believe that the scholarship will also alleviate some of the financial stress that comes from volunteering and assisting in rural areas, as well as the demands from the tuition and book costs themselves. Having peace of mind allows me to focus on my classes and what comes next, as well as focus on the needs of patients during our interactions. I believe that this scholarship will assist as part towards my journey to provide mental health to everyone in the community.