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Edwards-Knox student wins Spirit Youth Giving essay challenge

Posted 11/11/22

 GOUVERNEUR, NY – An Edwards-Knox middle school student recently chose Gouverneur Hospital as the facility to write about in an essay competition. The words she wrote describing how the …

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Edwards-Knox student wins Spirit Youth Giving essay challenge

Posted

 GOUVERNEUR, NY – An Edwards-Knox middle school student recently chose Gouverneur Hospital as the facility to write about in an essay competition. The words she wrote describing how the Hospital “defines community” earned her the winning essay, and awarded the Hospital with a $500 grant.

Nearly 200 students in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties participated in the Northern New York Community Foundation Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge essay contest. Students were asked to define what "community" means to them, and then identify an organization they believe supports their personal definition of "community."

Essay writer and winner Taya Coller said that to her, community means people helping other people out.

“Community also means teamwork to me. When people are a part of a community they look out for each other. What makes a community is people working together. People working hand in hand and people looking out for each other,” she wrote.

“What I love about my community is that it is a nice place to live. In my community people look out for each other. Neighbors help each other. Our hospitals help people recover with injury or disease. My community is a great place to live because there are nice people. You have people that watch your back. We have nice parks and other places for families or friends to spend time with each other. We have nice community workers that get their jobs done right,” she further said.

Miss Coller then explained the organization in St. Lawrence County she chose that she feels best embodies her definition of community is Gouverneur Hospital, because it helps make her community a better place as the employees look out for other people.

“For example Gouverneur Hospital vaccinates people to try to help stop the spread of certain diseases such as the flu. They also have doctors that check injuries, illnesses and other health issues to help heal them. Doctors provide or prescribe their patients medicine for their injuries and illnesses after they listen to them carefully,” Miss Coller said.

She noted there are doctors who perform surgeries at Gouverneur Hospital, and following the procedures, nurses take care of the patients and make sure they are doing well before they leave the Hospital.

“Workers work together as one big team. For example they have phlebotomists that draw blood that the doctor orders to check for illnesses or diseases. Then the phlebotomists send the blood to the lab and the lab workers test the blood for diseases. There are nurses at Gouverneur Hospital that get the patients ready for the doctors and they also help surgeons with surgeries. This is why I think Gouverneur Hospital best embodies my definition of community,” Miss Coller said.

Gouverneur Hospital VP of Nursing Christina Latta said she is humbled and grateful that Miss Coller selected the Hospital as her facility to write about.

“With all the exceptional organizations and businesses in St. Lawrence County to choose from, having Taya select Gouverneur Hospital as a place she feels demonstrates ‘community’ is simply overwhelming,” Latta said.

“Her essay is an affirmation that this young lady sees the Hospital in the exact light we hope to convey to every one of every age who walks through our doors. It is with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ that we congratulate Taya on her essay being selected, and for choosing Gouverneur Hospital to write about,” she added.

To learn more about Gouverneur Hospital, visit https://stlawrencehealthsystem.org/locations/gouverneur-hospital, and to learn about the NNY Community Foundation, visit https://nnycf.org/.