Life Care Planning is a discipline that focuses on assessing a chronically or catastrophically injured person’s medical conditions and formulating a plan of medically related care to address those conditions throughout a person’s lifetime.
Clinical Objectives of Life Care Planning
When physician life care planners formulate a plan of care for an injured individual, we focus on accomplishing four clinical objectives:
- Diminish or eliminate physical and psychological pain and suffering.
- Reach and maintain the highest level of function given an individual’s unique circumstances.
- Prevent complications to which an individual’s unique physical and mental conditions predispose them.
- Afford the individual the best possible quality of life in light of their condition.
Our Purpose
We never cease to be amazed by the challenges and circumstances faced by the catastrophically injured people we assess, and we never tire of learning about the strategies, services, and support that make the greatest positive impact for people dealing with a life-altering injury. That includes the injured person themselves as well as the friends and family who must deal with the associated impact of a loved one who has suffered catastrophic injury. In an effort to highlight the struggles, successes, and strategies of people affected by catastrophic harm, Physician Life Care Planning offers the $2,500 Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship.
Eligibility Requirements
The Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship is open to any undergraduate or graduate student who can meet the following criteria:
- Be in good academic standing.
- You are enrolled in or accepted at an accredited college, university, or graduate school in the United States.
- You agree to the scholarship terms and conditions.
- You submit the necessary application materials listed below.
- You have personally experienced, or are in close proximity to someone who has experienced, a life-altering catastrophic injury.
How to Apply
Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements above and then craft an essay on the scholarship topic provided below. Once your essay is complete:
- Use the application form provided on this page
- Upload a copy of your scholarship essay
- Fill in all required fields in the application form
- Review the scholarship terms and conditions
Scholarship Essay Topic
If you, a family member, or a loved one has suffered a life-altering injury, we invite you to share your experience in a written essay of between 500 and 1,000 words.
Our interest in your story is to learn about the strategies, services, and support that made (or could have made, had they been available) the greatest positive impact toward achieving the clinical objectives listed above.
Essay Requirements
When providing your account, please ensure your essay includes the following:
- A basic description of what happened to the individual, e.g., auto accident, work-related injury, etc.
- A basic description of their medical condition, e.g., traumatic brain injury, tetraplegia, amputation, traumatic burn, chronic pain, etc.
- A basic description of their challenges and disabilities, e.g., loss of ability to engage in occupational activities, loss of ability to participate socially with friends and family, etc.
- A basic description of any particularly effective environmental, social, attitudinal, or rehabilitative strategies that made a significant positive impact on the injured individual and their friends’ and family’s ability to cope, adjust, heal, and thrive.
- A basic description of any particularly effective medically related services, equipment, care, rehabilitative programs, environmental modifications, etc. that made a significant positive impact for the injured individual and their friends’ and family’s ability to cope, adjust, heal, and thrive.
Our Perspective
Unfortunately, we can’t prevent the accidents that lead to catastrophic injury. However, we can impact how those injuries are addressed. Through effective life care planning, we can positively affect outcomes for catastrophically injured individuals and their friends and family. We look forward to learning from your experience and sharing it to positively affect the lives of others.
Submission Requirements
For your essay to be eligible, please include the following:
- A header where you mention your full name, the name of the scholarship, the name of the institution you are enrolled in, your GPA, the mailing address from your financial aid office where we can mail the award, the e-mail address and phone number from your financial aid office, and the student ID number.
- A catchy and original title.
- A bibliography where you mention all the sources of information used, if any (eg, books, sites, articles, magazines, reports, etc.)
- Citations, if any.
Once finished, please save your essay in PDF format with the following title, “The Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship 2025 – Student Name”, and submit it through the form.
Scholarship Deadline
The deadline to apply was April 15, 2025. Applications received after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. After the deadline, all submissions will be reviewed by our scholarship selection committee. The process of choosing a scholarship winner can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months.
We are unable to accept calls, emails, or other communication regarding the scholarship due to the large number of anticipated submissions.
Previous Winners
All winners of our Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship will be listed here. Winners are also sent a questionnaire regarding their essay, life goals, activism, and hopes for the future.
- 2025 Winner: Tyler Ranzenberger
- 2024 Winner: Stuart Cash
