Services, thinks the buddy
benches are a great idea. "It
gives children a chance to reach
out when they need a friend
and also a chance for children
to step up and help someone,
which promotes character and
good feelings about helping
someone in need," Long said.
"All elementary schools should
have a buddy bench in my
opinion."
But the troop has no intention of
stopping its community service
with the buddy benches. This
summer, the girls will work
with area veterans. But they
are always willing to help other
schools interested in their own
buddy benches.
"If any local schools would like
to help get this program off the
ground in their school, we would
be glad to help," Look said. "It
was a really fun project."
In recognition of their hard work
in helping to provide buddy
benches at the four elementary
schools, the girls of Troop 7497
were presented with the Total
Woman Youth Healthcare Hero
Award at The Total Woman An-
niversary celebration in June.
In addition to Troop 7497,
two other Total Woman
Healthcare Hero Awards
were presented at the
celebration—Community
Hero and Nursing Hero.
Community Hero
After a battle with colon can-
cer, Kelly Jobe decided she
wanted to fi nd a way to help
other colon cancer patients.
So she started the Care for
Your Colon 5K to
raise both money
and awareness. All
the proceeds from
the 5K go to the
St. Mary's Medical
Center Foundation
to help local colon
cancer patients. In addition
The Total Woman Celebrates
Healthcare Heroes
to planning the 5K, Jobe also
works to raise awareness of the
importance of
colonoscopies
in detecting
colon cancer.
Nursing
Hero
After more than 50 years of
experience in nursing — 40 of
those years at St. Mary's —
Shelia M. Kyle, Ed.D., MSN,
RN, CNE, is
retiring in
July as
St. Mary's
vice president
of Schools of
Nursing and
Health
Professions and the director
of the St. Mary's School
of Nursing. Approximately
2,000 nurses have graduated
during Dr. Kyle's tenure at the
school. She was recently
honored by the West Virginia
Nurses Association with the
Life-Long
Contribution
to Nursing
Award.
To see
more from the celebration,
visit our Facebook page
at Facebook.com/
stmarystotalwoman.
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