Aim Higher’ is gala theme

By Judy Frueh

This year the St. Francis Foundation Gala fundraiser is for women’s health care in our area. I am excited to be an ambassador to help raise money for this cause. There are 14 women who have stepped up and agreed to be ambassadors for this cause.

Being a women’s health nurse practitioner in this county and surrounding counties for 33 years I have seen women have to put their own health care needs aside because of lack of reliable transportation to get them to a specialist 90 miles away, inability to find child care for the time it would take to travel to the appointment, or they did not work at a job where they could afford a day off to keep an appointment so far away.

My nursing education consisted of training in Kansas City and in Dallas. Yes, I saw poverty and sad things during my nursing education, but I see poverty in our area. I see women who are malnourished because they have little to no money and they must focus their money elsewhere other than nutritious food. I have seen moms and kiddos homeless in our area. Yes, these are extreme. Yes, fortunately I do not see this every day, but it exists in our area.

This initiative will help support some novel changes Mosaic Maryville would like to make on how they care for women. This initiative will benefit women across the life span not just women of childbearing age. I think this plan will allow women to stay local for their care. They will get the quality care both in innovative procedures as well as the personalized care we can only get from this small community.

There are many worthwhile causes for us all to donate. I hope if you have the means, you will consider donating to this initiative. No donation is too small. We can
Aim Higher” and put women’s health care needs of Nodaway County and surrounding communities a priority.

If you are interested in donating to me or any of the other ambassadors visit bidpal.net/aimhigher or reach out to Megan Jennings, St. Francis Foundation director of development at 660.562.7933 or Megan.Jennings@mymlc.com.

Thank you for your support!