The West River Area Health Education Center held its first fundraiser with a little bit of a twist.
Four health care professionals danced it out against each other — all in the name of health care education.
Andrew VanOsdol is the Director of Surgical Services at Monument Health in Spearfish and the winner of the People's Choice award at the competition.
“I’ve been on stage a lot. I’ve done a lot of various things in my life from firefighting to surgeon. I’ve worked at NASA," said VanOsdol. "This is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, honestly.”
VanOsdol pitted his Latin jazz routine against hip-hop, contemporary, and soft-shoe routines.
Another competitor and the overall winner of the mirror ball was Bill Reynolds, the Associate Vice President at Monument Health. He said it was "nerve wracking" to step outside of his comfort zone, but the cause is important.
“Health care in western South Dakota is hard to find people who are interested and it’s hard to get them in education," said Reynolds. "We don’t have enough people with interest. It’s a desperate need for health care professionals and it’s an honor to participate in any way we can to boost those numbers and help people become familiar with health care education.”
The West River AHEC hosted the fundraising competition to start a Healthcare Careers Scholarship Endowment. Those scholarships will support students in western South Dakota pursuing health care degrees.
Stephanie Mayfield is the agency’s Director. She said when they started the organization in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic — there were 279 open nursing positions in western South Dakota. According to the Department of Labor and Regulation, that number is now 462.
Mayfield painted a graphic picture of why getting people into healthcare fields is so crucial for the community.
“Who’s going to want to open a sheet metal shop? Maybe someone has an accident and they detach their finger. If there isn’t someone here to be able to provide that emergency medicine and expertise, they’re not going to come," said Mayfield. "One of the pillars or cornerstones of a community is health care. It’s one of the fastest-growing industries in South Dakota and we need to ensure that that workforce pipeline continues.”
All-in-all, the Dancing with the Healthcare Stars Gala raised $11,350, something Mayfield says they hope to continue and grow in the future.