Nursing Care at UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester Recognized in Major Gift to Chesapeake College

Compass Editor’s Note: Information in this story was gleaned from an article that appeared in the Star Democrat on Sunday, January 7, 2018. 

Bill Shertenlieb, left, with Pat and Richard Gauen, friends of Reverend William L. English, a former patient at UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester whose estate included a major endowed gift to fund scholarships for nursing students.  They are shown standing in front of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Father  English’s former church in East New Market. PHOTO CREDIT:  The Star Democrat.

Future generations of nursing students at Chesapeake College — especially those who hail from Dorchester County — have nursing care at UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester to thank for inspring the establishment of a new endowed scholarship fund by the estate of the Reverend W. L. English, an Episcopal priest from Dorchester County.
According to Luci Hughes, vice president, institutional advancement for Chesapeake College and executive director of the College’s foundation, the W. L. English Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund will help support as many as 25 nursing students receiving grants ranging from $350 to $2,000 each year.
English had been a patient at the Dorchester hospital on several occasions before he passed away in 2015. According to his good friends Pat and Richard Gauen, he often spoke of the excellent care he received during his hospital stays.
Bill Shertenlieb, RN, a staff nurse in intensive care at UM SMC at Dorchester, was among the nurses who cared for English during his hospitalizations. Speaking with the Star Democrat reporter, Shertenlieb recalled English as a patient who “brought out the creativity and kindness in the care you delivered” and “made you happy to be a nurse,” but said he was taken by surprise when he learned of the Reverend’s endowed gift for nursing scholarships at Chesapeake. “I was stunned,” Shertenlieb told the Star Democrat. “Sometimes you get surprises like this … you don’t always know whose day you’ve made.”