More than 260 golfers and 30 volunteers turned out for the twenty-fourth annual Friends of Saint Francis Benefit Golf Tournament on August 26 at Bent Creek Golf Course. Funds raised support Saint Francis Medical Center’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) transport team.
The Level III NICU at Saint Francis provides transport services for premature infants and newborns throughout the region. About 10 percent of pregnancies have the potential for requiring NICU care and more than half of the babies in Saint Francis’ Level III NICU are transports from outside facilities.
The transport team safely and expertly transports nearly 125 babies a year from more than 11 outlying hospitals. Each transport carries a highly skilled Level III NICU team to move critically ill infants to Saint Francis by helicopter or ambulance. Shortened transport time leads to improved outcomes for the most critically ill newborns.
Since the tournament began 24 years ago, more than $2 million has been raised to benefit patients and families throughout this region and provide access to state-of-the-art healthcare services at Saint Francis.
“This and other fundraising efforts by The Friends helps Saint Francis reaffirm our mission and the people we care for,” says Linda H. Decker, executive director of Saint Francis Foundation. “Gifts to the Foundation go directly to our patients, their families and members of our community. We are very fortunate to have the support of so many dedicated volunteers and contributors – they make all our efforts possible.”
The winners of the morning championship flight were Bob Garrett, Joe Thomason, Jim McElreath and Sam Birk. Second place went to Bill Tegel, Austin Putty, Bard Womack and Richie Throgmorten. Third place went to Gerald Jones, Dean Smithmier, Rodney Miller and Jerry Reynolds.
The first-place team in morning flight A was made up of Patrick Carron, Lee Clinton, Steve Rozier and Tim Brewer. Kevin Patterson, Shawn Patterson, Steve Strup and Jeff Unterreiner took second place. Third place went to Lisa Bjelich, Bishop John Leibrecht, Tim Kelley and Norman Glaus.
The first-place team in morning flight B included Drew Martin, Kevin Mulcahy, John Coleman and Josh Lee. Second place went to Rick Fehr, Chris Johnson, Ron LeGrand and Cliff Green. Third place was awarded to Scott Menkes, Dr. Chris Montgomery, Brian Guittar and Pat Gaffney.
Donnie Chester, Brent Holmes, Lance Bray and Dr. Jeffrey Appleman took the top spot in the afternoon championship flight. Second place went to Steven Bjelich, Jason Siener, Dr. Chris Montgomery and Bryan Johnson. Bill Tegel, Richie Throgmorten, Scott Higgins and Austin Putty took third.
The first-place team in afternoon flight A was made up of Dr. Janna Crosnoe, Ron Harris, Jaime Howell and Dr. Ray Silliman. James Banken, Sissy Donahue, Eric Fraley and Sally LeGrand finished second. Third place was awarded to Steve Logel, Rich Stanfill, Andy Strizel and Jeff Thieret.
The first-place team in afternoon flight B included John East, Angie Kapp, John Wyman and Steve Young. Second place went to Becka Hollis, Mike Kohlfeld, Scott Ringwald and Dan Todt. Jim Burdiss, Henry Kiser, Bruce Schafer and Emil Schmidt took third place.
The winners of the morning championship flight, from left: Jim McElreath, Sam Birk, Bob Garrett and Joe Thomason
The winners of the afternoon championship flight, from left: Lance Bray, Dr. Jeffrey Appleman, Donnie Chester and Brent Holmes.