ECHO sets up honorary scholarship
Every Coast Helicopter Operations (ECHO), an air medical training training group which operates across Alaska, US, has set up a scholarship to honour missing flight nurse Stacie Morse.
Every Coast Helicopter Operations (ECHO), an air medical training group which operates across Alaska, US, has set up a scholarship to honour missing flight nurse Stacie Morse, who was working onboard a Guardian Flight air ambulance when it went missing near Kake, Alaska. The flight also carried Pilot Patrick Coyle and Paramedic Margaret Langston.
Morse was a member of ECHO, hence the decision by the organisation to set up the scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded to a flight nurse from a rural community – just like Morse. Application for the scholarship is available 1 March, and you are able to donate to the scholarship here.
“The scholarships will be awarded based on need, and when we originally created this scholarship, we intended to give US$1,500 for the first year and then adding $500 for subsequent years," said Joe Zarek, ECHO Business Director. "As of now, we have received over $6,000 for the scholarship, which is phenomenal. In screening some of the people that have donated funds, they are from rural communities, so the need is there. We want to reach as many people as we can to join this profession. "
Talking of the scholarship, Cindy Pratt, a Flight Paramedic and friend of Morse, said: “She had so much drive and passion for education and life that this was just an automatic thought to try and honour her memory. She would love it. She would not want us to dwell on our loss at all. She would just think it was one of the most amazing things we could do for her.”