{"id":127907,"date":"2024-02-28T21:20:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T02:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=127907"},"modified":"2024-02-28T21:25:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T02:25:05","slug":"dorothy-zug-taylors-generosity-pays-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=127907","title":{"rendered":"Dorothy Zug Taylor\u2019s Generosity \u2018Pays It Forward\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The late philanthropist and trailblazing politician continues to exert a positive impact on her community through a newly established scholarship fund for St. Luke\u2019s nursing students.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dorothy Zug Taylor created a significant endowment to provide St. Luke\u2019s nursing students with scholarships. Her long-standing ties to St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network date back to her time as a 1957 graduate of St. Luke\u2019s School of Nursing. \u201cDotty,\u201d as she was known to her friends and family, passed away in July 2023, following a lifetime of accomplishment and service to her community.<\/p>\n

The newly established Dorothy Zug Taylor St. Luke\u2019s School of Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund will be used to provide scholarships to nursing students with demonstrated financial need and an interest in entering a nursing career in acute care or behavioral health. Preference will be given to first-generation, post-high school students who intend to work at St. Luke\u2019s following graduation.<\/p>\n

Her original \u201cPay It Forward\u201d endowed scholarship fund to benefit the St. Luke\u2019s School of Nursing was created in 2007 to support and advance the education of students and faculty members.\u00a0 The most recent endowment continues her long-standing commitment to providing educational opportunities for aspiring nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Luke\u2019s and the School of Nursing deeply appreciates this latest example of Dotty\u2019s commitment to the nursing profession. As a proud graduate of St. Luke\u2019s School of Nursing, she has supported the school for decades. Through this most recent endowment, Dotty has ensured that countless students will be able to pursue a nursing education that would otherwise been out of their reach. Additionally, a nursing excellence award to recognize practicing registered nurses will be named in her honor,\u201d says Carol Kuplen, former President, St. Luke\u2019s University Hospital Bethlehem and Chief Nursing Officer.<\/p>\n

According to her daughter, Dr. Kathryn Zug, her mother \u201calways viewed her nursing school education as a door to growth and opportunity. Her generous gift for the scholarship program reflects her strong desire to promote that opportunity. She was very proud of being a nurse and her time working in public health and she was a strong believer in passing on the opportunity for education to others, viewing education as a critical pillar one could lean on for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following her graduation from nursing school at St. Luke\u2019s, Dotty would go on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a nurse in Philadelphia before settling in Bethlehem and raising three children: Dr. Kathy Zug, Marty Zug and the late Charles Zug IV.<\/p>\n

A generous spirit and a passion for helping others<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dotty was known to be a thoughtful and caring listener and counselor. She developed an early passion for politics, which she shared with her first husband, Dr. Charles \u201cCharlie\u201d Zug, III, a physician and chief of surgery at St. Luke\u2019s until his death in 1982. The couple built deep relationships within the community, and, as a young wife and mother, she assumed many top leadership roles in both professional and community service organizations.<\/p>\n

Frequently one of the only women in the room at political meetings and gatherings, Dotty broke barriers for other women. A political career that began in 1966 as a member of the Northampton County Democratic Committee saw her rise to the state level, where she was elected vice-chair of the party in 1976, and to the national level, where she was elected to the Democratic National Committee that same year. Following the 1976 election, she led the Pennsylvania delegation at the Democratic convention, and was one of the only female electors for then-candidate Jimmy Carter.<\/p>\n

She served on the Democratic National Executive Committee after Carter\u2019s election to the presidency and made frequent trips between her home in Bethlehem and the White House. In 1984, she was appointed to Northampton County Council, the first female to serve on the nine-member council.<\/p>\n

She was also a trailblazer in the early application of computer technology in the early 1980\u2019s. She and her second husband, Donald S. Taylor, designed, wrote and ran computer programs that digitized circulation for the former Globe Times newspaper that served the Bethlehem area.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom lived a full and abundant life helping others,\u201d adds Marty Zug. \u201cShe applied the skills learned and the attitudes she developed in nursing school throughout her life: attention to detail, data collection and use, listening, triage, critical thinking, continuing education, community welfare and belief in progress, innovation and science. Her nursing education helped instill those beliefs. Her world of understanding expanded with her nursing education, including understanding the role of government and community in health care and the health of people \u2013 the belief that care should be for all people, regardless of circumstances. Her gift brings all of this full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The late philanthropist and trailblazing politician continues to exert a positive impact on her community through a newly established scholarship fund for St. Luke\u2019s nursing students. Dorothy Zug Taylor created … Continue reading Dorothy Zug Taylor\u2019s Generosity \u2018Pays It Forward\u2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Dorothy-Zug-Taylor.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/127908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}