Partnership Builds Toward the Future
First graduate arises from Inspiring Minds program
WARREN — A love for science blossomed into an interest in health care, leading Heaven Pough of Warren to become the first graduate of a nursing partnership between Inspiring Minds and Mercy Health’s St. Joseph Warren Hospital earlier this year.
Pough, a 2016 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School, has been involved with Inspiring Minds from seventh to 12th grade, and encourages others to do the same.
Inspiring Minds is a national program with chapters in both Warren and Youngstown. The organization serves more than 600 children in five chapters across four states, giving them opportunities to grow as students and professionals.
“They have access to hiring managers and other people that can give you opportunities that help get your foot in the door,” Pough said.
“Even years after graduating, I was still in contact with IM. So when they started a program to help alumni get connections with Mercy Health, it really allowed me to get my foot in the door,” she added.
The connection came via a summer program from the organization called the Inspiring Minds Summer Career Development Program. It works to place local graduates in internships with local companies, including Mercy Health and its residency program.
In 2018, Pough was a nursing student at Kent State University at Trumbull when she began as a paid intern in the surgical unit during the summer months between fall and spring classes.
She said the experience allowed her to gain familiarity with the paperwork and clinical aspects of nursing.
“It really broadened my horizons and outlook on nursing. It allowed me to know there’s more to nursing than just bedside nursing, which I think a lot of people forget that being in nursing is more than being one-on-one with the patient,” Pough said.
Then a clerical assistant intern, Pough described working in the preoperative area of the hospital, spending time learning intricate steps to the surgical procedures that included filling out paperwork for patients and physicians.
“During downtime they’d show me any and everything within the hospital. I even was able to get introduced to the sterile aspect of surgery where they’re (preparing) the instruments neurosurgeons will use for medical procedures, which was all really great experience,” Pough said.
Program leader Angela Massacci recalled a shy, timid Pough during the beginning of her internship.
“It was pleasant to watch her grow and see her succeed,” Massacci said. “Watching that confidence grow, she was very congenial, she had a charisma with the patients. She had a heart for them and the families, even when working throughout COVID when she was on the phone organizing, she was very structured.”
Pough is the first student Massacci has seen graduate as a registered nurse through her surgical unit.
“Our heart really is just to see these young students succeed and to enhance our nursing staff at the hospital,” Massacci said.
Massacci also noted that the program aspires to answer a demand to diversify the hospital, emphasizing the importance of minority nurses bringing cultural experiences that resonate with patients.
“It’s important to bring diversity on the nursing side, so that we can offer a broader understanding when we’re taking care of our patients,” Massacci said.
Massacci said she hopes the hospital’s program begins putting interns in more bedside nursing scenarios to help introduce them to the hospital setting.
The program is funded by a grant provided by the Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley. Mercy Health then works with Inspiring Minds to hire paid interns, all of whom are pursuing higher education in the health care field.
As Pough continues in health care, she is readying for a move to Columbus, where she plans to work in the registered nurse residency program at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.