Yale New Haven Hospital honors MLK's legacy with community service awards

2/28/2011 — Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) recently awarded three $1,000 Martin Luther King (MLK) community service awards to New Haven students who are setting examples in their community: Maria Arnold and Karen Tello, seniors at High School in the Community, and Denny Johnson, a senior at Riverside Academy.

YNHH's service award program honors the legacy of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., by providing scholarships to eligible high school students, as well as grants to New Haven elementary schools. To qualify, students must log 20 or more hours of uncompensated community service and write a description of how their experiences helped them appreciate the differences in others.

"We felt that this is a perfect way for us to honor Dr. King - by celebrating the next generation of community leaders," said Pat Worthy, RN, manager of workforce diversity at YNHH. "These young people are already making a positive difference in our community and we hope the scholarship encourages them to continue to excel and to serve."

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org