Clark Ellison News Today

The O Night Divine Charity Ball was again divine for Mercy Health Foundation Northwest Arkansas. The foundations 1,300 guests brought in $1.4 million at the 29th annual gala fundraiser Dec. 3 at the Rogers Convention Center.

Mercy will invest $500 million in the next phase of its health care expansion in Northwest Arkansas. Phase two’s projects will include a state-of-the-art cancer center, emergency department and isolation room expansion, additional clinic locations, more outpatient care facilities and nearly doubling the current number of primary care physicians and specialists.

Guests for the Prairie to Table Dinner were greeted at the Museum of Native American History by Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz, curandera (or healer), who offered each the opportunity for a sage blessing before the April 22 event at the museum in Bentonville. Ruiz is the author of "Earth Medicines."