THE ABERDEEN AREA MEDICAL FOUNDATION isn’t the most well known foundation in town, but their assistance has been pivotal in funding many services that the residents of Northeast South Dakota rely on.
Before the Foundation was created, Dakota Midland Hospital, which was located in the current Aberdeen Christian School building, merged with Avera St. Luke’s in the late 1980s.
At the time of the merger, because of some financial issues, Dakota Midland Hospital was owned by Health Central, which was based out of the Twin Cities. At a later date, they became known as Health One.
Dennis Maloney served as the president of the Dakota Midland Hospital Foundation, which was a separate entity from the hospital. He had been part of the hospital since its inception, but he was no longer serving on the hospital’s board.
The Dakota Midland Hospital Foundation was primarily funded by a woman named Mary King, who owned a considerable amount of farmland in Southeast Brown County. The Foundation had started to contemplate additional funding at the time of the hospital’s merger.
“Health Central’s lawyer told me that they were going to pay their debts with the foundation’s money,” Maloney said. “My Irish stood up tall and I told them, ‘No, you’re not.’ That money did not belong to the hospital. It was an asset of the foundation.”
Maloney told them that if they tried to claim ownership, that he would fight them.
“I told them the one thing that I will do, because I am a lawyer, is that I’ll represent my foundation,” he said. “That money belonged to the people of Northeast South Dakota.”
Health Central’s lawyer wrote to Maloney and said that if he could form a foundation and get IRS approval, they would release the money. After that conversation, Maloney became more determined to accomplish that.
On May 13, 1988, Maloney filed articles of incorporation for the Aberdeen Area Medical Foundation. On May 16, the attorney general of South Dakota issued a certificate of incorporation, which gave the Foundation legal life in South Dakota. Tax-exempt status was granted to the Foundation in December 1991.
Maloney received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service which read as follows: We have determined you are exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
AAMF helped Brown County Sheriff’s Office reach their fundraising goal allowing them to purchase a Fat Truck. This vehicle can carry several people, has room for a stretcher, and can drive on land, mud, and water.
“You can imagine, to my delight, I picked up the phone and called that lawyer and said, ‘I am faxing you a copy of the letter, send me the money.’ And the money came.”
To this day, the Foundation is still a viable, active, nonprofit foundation in Northeast South Dakota.
Thanks to prior experience, Maloney knew that they’d need to have a territory for their foundation. The board members determined that they would cover the area north of Highway 14 in South Dakota, south of Interstate 94 in North Dakota, west of the Missouri River, and east of the Minnesota state line.
The Aberdeen Area Medical Foundation has expended in excess of $2.5 million in benefits to healthcare, healthcare delivery, scholarships, and funding of equipment for charitable hospitals and ambulance services. They have furnished ambulance equipment for all of the small community ambulance volunteers in Northeast South Dakota as well.
The Foundation has contributed $125,000 for the bike paths in Aberdeen and has also aided the Aberdeen Fire Department by providing funding for training courses on performing lifesaving techniques. They also fund scholarships for the new nursing program at Northern State University in the name of one of their founders, Dr. William Bormes.
Maloney said that the Foundation has been considering donating defibrillators for Aberdeen’s churches, and that they still receive requests for ambulance funding. The Foundation has also provided funding for the CASSP Dental Van, and contributed $32,000 for emergency equipment for the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.
Board members meet twice a year in the spring and fall to respond to requests for funding and to issue grants. They are open to any suggestion as long as healthcare is involved in some capacity. “It’s good for people to find out about this,” Maloney said. “We always say we’re the best-kept secret in South Dakota.” //
For more information, visit aamfsd.org.
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