Benson Area Medical Center, Inc has announced that Sabria Janai Crowell, the daughter of Gwen Cowell, an employee of the organization has been awarded The Jim and Sue Bernstein Health Center Scholarship, administered by the Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation, provided to families employed in North Carolina’s rural health clinics.
Sabria is a 2017 graduate of Triton High School. She will be attending North Carolina A&T this fall with a major in sports medicine. She was in the top 21 percent of her class at Triton High School where she was an honors student, a member of Alpha Honors Society and Beta Club with a GPA of 3.96.
Sabria received the Barack Obama Presidential Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence. Sabria not only excels in academics, she also excels in athletics. She was All-Conference in cheerleading in 2017. She was Academic All-Conference in Cheerleading and Track for all four years of high school. She was also the 2016 Triton High School Homecoming Queen.
Jim Bernstein, the Foundation’s founder and first president, dedicated his life and work to improving healthcare in rural communities across North Carolina. An innovator and a motivator, he served as a role model to others in how to address some of the most difficult rural health care challenges.
As a part of Jim’s commitment and effort to improve rural health, he helped to establish a network of 81 community-based clinics and centers across North Carolina. These clinics not only provide rural communities with better access to healthcare, but also offer basic healthcare to all patients, regardless of ability to pay. Being involved in the creation of these centers, Jim understood the importance of the contributions made to the community by the clinic staff, and in an effort to give back; he began the Jim and Sue Bernstein Health Center Scholarship Program.
Awarded annually, these scholarships help to relieve some of the financial burden on 20 eligible centers and their employees by helping to pay for both the clinical education of rural clinic staff members and the college education of their dependent in any area of interest.
Since its inception in 2006, more than $75,000 has been awarded among 52 scholars representing 9 health centers
About Benson Area Medical Center
A federally certified rural health center serving over 12,000 residents of Johnston, Harnett and Sampson counties with primary healthcare. The Benson Area Medical Center (BAMC) has eight (8) medical providers and a clinical pharmacist. In addition to their mission of providing excellent primary healthcare to everyone in the community, Benson Area Medical also serves as a training site for many future pharmacists, physician assistants and physicians.
