The Lake Region Healthcare Foundation has announced that Heidi Peterson has been selected to receive the first Jordan Tommerdahl Memorial Endowment Scholarship. The $2,500 award is designed to provide recognition and financial assistance to persons pursuing an advanced degree or training in mental health-related fields. 

The Jordan Tommerdahl Endowment fund was established in 2021with the generous donations of friends and family who sought to honor Jordan’s life and memory with a meaningful legacy. 

A portion of the 2020 Lake Region Healthcare Foundation Gala proceeds were also designated to establishing the fund. Despite his own struggles with mental illness, Jordan had a desire to go back to school to pursue a degree in the mental health field to help other people, and his family knew a scholarship to help others pursue that path would be a fitting way to honor him. 

Peterson was unanimously selected by the scholarship review committee who commented that “Heidi’s vulnerability to share her story regarding her struggle with and recovery from mental health issues and substance abuse was compelling. It is clear that she is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives through providing high quality care for mental illness.” 

Peterson is the Director of Nursing at Northstar Behavioral Health Network in Fergus Falls and is pursuing her MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner through Walden University. 

In her application Peterson shared “The current landscape of mental health in particular in American is in need of dire transformation. What I hope to accomplish with the education and knowledge obtained from my schooling is to be a change agent within the field of mental health and substance use disorder with an emphasis on rural healthcare, legislative changes, equity of access, and destigmatization.”