For years, Emmy McManus had struggled to pay off the student loans she took out to become a nurse.
The Wynnewood resident has worked for 30 years at Lankenau Medical Center in her hometown and earned her nursing degree 17 years ago.
In the years after she graduated nursing school, both of her parents became seriously ill.
Juggling their care — their rising medical bills, the costs of special meals, an eventually, hospice services — made keeping up with tens of thousands of dollars in loans even harder.
So when Lankenau officials announced earlier this year that they’d received a $1 million anonymous donation to help their nurses pay off student loans, McManus, a registered nurse on a medical-surgical floor, jumped at the chance.
She’s one of 179 nurses who received up to $3,600 to cover the cost of their student loan payments this year. A second cohort will receive another set of payments next year.
“It took such a burden off. I deferred some of my [loan payments] while my parents were sick, and then it just seemed like every time I was able to pick them back up, something else happened,” McManus said. “Getting this has been unbelievable.”
Lankenau’s president, Katie Galbraith, said that the anonymous donor was a longtime patient at the Main Line Health hospital who had been particularly impressed by the care they received from nurses.
“So often we receive incredibly generous donations for new pieces of equipment or new programs or new services. This is unique in that it really is about caring for the caregivers,” she said.
McManus said she draws on her own experiences caring for her parents, who have since passed away, at the hospital bedside.
“When you’re in the hospital, you’re at a really low point in your life. I know what it’s like. I’m able to help them get through it, trying to make them have a better experience or feel better about things,” she said. “I just love to help people.”
Galbraith hopes the gift will inspire other donors to support nurses in the region.
“Anyone coming out of school these days typically is coming out with some level of loans. Something like this really makes a difference,” she said.
‘I’m so glad I didn’t give up’
Lankenau officials capped grants at $3,600 to “maximize the impact for employees” while also allowing them to avoid extra tax payments, said Larry Hanover, a spokesperson for Main Line Health. About half of the $1 million gift will be distributed to nurses this year, and another half next year.
All the nurses who applied for a grant this year were awarded one, he said.
That includes Samantha Baldwin-Arroyo, a registered nurse who works in Lankenau’s emergency room.
Like her colleague, McManus, Baldwin-Arroyo has juggled the financial burden of student loans and serious health issues.
In high school, she worked three jobs after her mother was laid off and the family’s house was foreclosed on. In nursing school, she was diagnosed with cancer.
Now cancer-free, she’s still paying off student loans —and helping care for her mother, who has several chronic illnesses that went untreated while she worked jobs without healthcare benefits.
The $3,600 that Baldwin-Arroyo received from the anonymous donor has completely covered payments on one of her student loans.
“It’s a way bigger help than I could have imagined. I’m so glad I didn’t give up when things were hard,” she said. “I would never have expected that someone would be this generous. It’s nice to know we’re seen for what we do.”