Keeping it local
Local doctor boosts endowment for scholarship
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:51 AM PST
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| Samatha Farrow demonstrates how to use one of the hospital beds in the classroom, also a simulated hospital room, at Treasure Valley Community College. Farrow was last year’s recipient of the ‘Dr. Robert Thornfeldt Memorial Scholarship’ for second-year nursing students. |
ONTARIO — A local doctor just boosted the endowment for a scholarship at Treasure Valley Community College which helps nursing students pay for their education.
Dr. Carl Thornfeldt, Fruitland dermatologist, added $17,000 to a scholarship honoring his late father, Dr. Robert Thornfeldt, to mark his 25th anniversary in medical practice. The scholarship is a way to help provide health care workers for the lower Treasure Valley.
Thornfeldt, who has developed a line of groundbreaking skincare products, said he is a firm believer that people in rural communities are entitled to the same quality of health care that people in larger cities have available.
“TVCC has a very good nursing program,” Thornfeldt said. “We want to support that.”
To be eligible for the scholarship, students must have graduated from high schools in Malheur, Baker, Payette, Washington or Canyon counties, and must agree to work in Ontario, Nyssa, Vale, Fruitland, Payette, Weiser or Caldwell for one year. They must also be enrolled at TVCC as a second-year nursing student.
“We want local people who will stay in the community. We want to keep people here,” Thornfeldt said.
His donation to the TVCC Foundation, which administers the scholarship, raises the endowment to $65,000.
Thornfeldt, who specializes in treating diseases of the skin and preventing those diseases, started the scholarship five years ago, in memory of his father, and in honor of his 20th year in medicine.
Last year’s recipient was Samantha Farrow, who will graduate this spring and receive her registered nursing credentials upon passing the state board exams.
“I don’t qualify for financial aid,” Farrow said. “We’re paying it all out of pocket.
The scholarship helped a lot,” she said, adding it has helped keep her from having to get loans. Her scholarship, split over three quarters, totaled approximately $1,800, she said.
