According to Dr. Lowney, who enacted the fund with the help of his
wife, Virginia, “It is a waste of potential” if the nursing students
“drop out of the program with [financial] problems.” The Lowneys also
created the Virginia Lowney Emergency Fund.
At
the presentation ceremony, Dawn Humphreys, a 40-year-old nursing student
who is a mother of three, personally thanked Dr. Lowney for the grant.
The grant allowed her to take a short leave from her part time work at
the Mystic branch of the Joslin Diabetes Clinic to accompany her son
through his third surgery for a brain tumor. Humphreys will graduate in
just 13 days and will begin work at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New
London.
“I
am delighted to be coming up to these milestones: a nursing degree and a
son who is doing well,” Humphreys said.
