ENTERPRISE — Two scholarships are currently being offered to local health care workers looking to advance their personal and professional development for the benefit of health care in Wallowa County, according to a press release.

“The scholarships have been put to good use,” said President Dave Smyth, of the Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation Board. “Each year we get very qualified applicants, and the long-term benefit to local health care has been proven.”

The Gwen & Gladys Coffin Memorial Scholarship and the Edgar Burbridge and Frances Boyd Burbridge Scholarship, each worth $2,000, have opened their application period through June 1. Both scholarships are sponsored by the foundation, a local nonprofit that raises money to improve and expand health care in Wallowa County.

The Coffin Scholarship was founded in 2012, when the daughter of Gwen and Gladys Coffin, Gail Swart, was serving on the foundation board. Gladys Coffin donated an irrevocable gift for $500,000 in her late husband’s name in 1996, helping the foundation get on solid financial footing. Swart suggested the scholarship and the board recognized a need to help local health care workers pursue additional education and training. Thus, it created the scholarship to meet this need. Since then, local health care workers have pursued training and education to help improve treatment of lymphedema, pelvic floor functioning, geriatric physical therapy and more. Recipients have advanced their careers by pursuing board certifications in specialty areas of health care to provide greater expertise. Other areas include executive level leadership training and Medicare billing to address all areas of health care.

The Edgar Burbridge and Frances Boyd Burbridge Memorial Scholarship was founded in 2018, when Gene Boyd, brother of Frances, presented an estate gift of $231,557 for the foundation. Inspired by the Coffin scholarship, Boyd and his wife, Charlene, asked to create a similar one.

For more information, call the Foundation at 541-426-1913, or visit www.wchcd.org/about/foundation/scholarships.