Press Release

Burgess Foundation Raises Funds for “Physicians for Our Future”

This year’s guests attending the festive Burgess Foundation Poinsettia Ball will be investing in healthcare for the future, in addition to enjoying sparkling holiday décor, music, food and auction gifts.

Proceeds from the 24th annual Poinsettia Ball, set for Dec. 6 at the Onawa Community Center, will help support a special fund, “Physicians for Our Future,” to help ensure that Onawa area residents have community doctors in the years to come.

The fund will help cover the high costs of recruiting a new physician, including help with travel expenses for interviews, relocation and practice set-up expenses, according to Shirley Bruegger, foundation director. Competition today is growing more aggressive for a declining pool of family practice physicians, who are, in turn, burdened by medical education debt.

“Having ready access to a special fund is essential to help Burgess implement vital physician recruitment strategies,” she says. “An investment in this fund will help us with our long-range strategy - to have quality doctors in the years ahead.”

The Burgess Foundation director says the response for this year’s project has been especially positive.

“We have already received generous pledges from the Health Development Triad of Mapleton and Burgess Auxiliary/Act II,” she says. “Checks for donations and sponsorships for the ball have arrived with notes of praise for this year’s project, which is very gratifying.”

This year there also will be a "special intention ask" during the ball to raise funds for a hydraulic ambulance cot for Burgess Health Center’s busy ER. The Burgess ER was part of national news last June when a tragic tornado struck the nearby Little Sioux Boy Scout Ranch and sent some 20 scouts and others to the Onawa hospital for treatment.

The cot will raise and lower a patient with the touch of a button to reduce strenuous lifting and the risk of back injuries, according to Kris Petersen of the Burgess ER. Patients were loaded into Burgess ambulances 743 times in the past year, she says.

Persons unable to attend the ball are welcome to make a donation to benefit the “Physicians for Our Future” fund or the special ask for the ambulance cot. Tickets, which cover the buffet, dessert bar and drinks, are $45 per person in advance or $50 at the door.