Dakota Medical Foundation partners with SMHS for Giving Hearts Day
Dakota Medical Foundation (DMF) is once again partnering with the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) by providing at least two $12,500 scholarships to SMHS students on Giving Hearts Day, Feb. 14.
Full-time students in any of the School’s eight degree-granting programs—athletic training, biomedical sciences/clinical and translational science, medicine, medical laboratory science, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and master of public health—who register for the opportunity at med.UND.edu/events/ghd are eligible to win. Donors who give $1,000 or more to the SMHS through the givingheartsday.org portal will be given the chance to win the right to name one of the scholarships. The more donations that are received, the more scholarships will be awarded.
“The Giving Hearts Day scholarship really helped reduce my stress and jump-start my new career,” recalled Michelle Sanders, a 2018 graduate of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Physical Therapy Program and winner of the Lunn Family Giving Hearts Scholarship. “Digging out of debt as a new grad is really difficult and stressful, and is a big focus for a lot of people. So, having that money to put toward my student loan has really helped with reducing my monthly student loan payments, which allows me to focus on the things I need to focus on as a new clinician, rather than the financial stresses that come with completing a grad level program.”
In 2018, the UND SMHS raised $31,250 on Giving Hearts Day, all of which was matched by DMF for a total of $62,500 for students. Lowering all students’ debt has been a priority of SMHS leaders in recent years. As one example, in a recent survey administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), graduating medical students cited their “ability to pay off debt” as one of their top concerns entering the medical profession. This concern affects students’ choice of specialization and practice location, which, in turn, has an effect on the physician workforce in North Dakota.
“The [Giving Hearts Day] scholarship made the transition from pre-clinical to clinical training much easier,” added Brett Johnson, a third-year medical student from Fargo, N.D., and 2018 winner of the Drs. Laura and Corey Kroetsch Scholarship. “It opened up new locations to practice in the future based more closely on my interests as opposed to a paycheck. The scholarship certainly allowed me more freedom to choose how I want to help others best through my future practice. I can’t thank the donors enough.”
“We hope these Giving Hearts scholarships inspire students to realize that giving is transformative,” added DMF President Pat Traynor. “What a great opportunity to engage UND’s generous alumni, who can then help our future healthcare professionals pay down some of their debt. We never want money to be a barrier that keeps anyone from the health field and serving the people of our state. Also, 100 percent of this money goes directly to students, which we think is pretty cool.”
