New scholarship in Sara Corning’s name

The Yarmouth Hospital Foundation (YHF) has announced the creation of an annual $5,000 Sara Corning Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity Scholarship at Dalhousie University's School of Nursing. The scholarship will be for students of under-represented backgrounds at the Yarmouth Campus, starting this fall.

In addressing the ongoing need for more nurses, the foundation has decided to develop an annual equity, diversity, and inclusivity scholarship.

"With the current rising need of health-care workers there is an opportunity for Yarmouth Hospital Foundation to create another nursing scholarship," says board chair Neil LeBlanc, adding, “To do so in a way that can help those who have been disadvantaged over the years is an important way to honour Sara Corning's legacy and to assist in our community."

Sara Corning (1872-1969) was a nurse and humanitarian from the Yarmouth area who served as a Red Cross nurse in the First World War. She is

recognized across Canada and the world for saving the lives of thousands of Armenian and Greek children during an upheaval in Turkey in 1922, and as a figure of service and compassion. Her legacy is celebrated locally by the Sara Corning Society and the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education in Toronto. There is a street in Yarmouth named after her – Sara Corning Way – and a statue of her on property off Parade Street.

Dr. Shelley Cobbett, site administrator of the Yarmouth campus of the Dalhousie

University School of Nursing, is thrilled by the new scholarship.

"The creation of this scholarship represents an important initiative toward enhancing diversity and inclusivity within our nursing student population and ultimately the nursing profession,” she said. “Sara Corning was the epitome of a committed nurse, extraordinarily humble – and we are certain she would be honoured to know that we continue to advance her mission in her home town of Yarmouth."