RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Healthcare workers make up a large percent of employees in South Dakota, and more than 500 of those workers made their way to The Monument for the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations’ (SDAHO) 98th annual convention on Thursday.

SDAHO represents all 54 non-profit hospitals in South Dakota, 46 long-term care facilities, home health, assisted living facilities and more. The organization’s staff is divided into five areas: Advocacy and Member Relations, Acute & Post-Acute Services, Education, Business Development, and Quality Integration, all of which are touched on at the convention.

The event kicked off Thursday morning with a keynote speech from Command Sergeant Major Gretchen Evans who told her story of injuries while serving and tied her experience to the healthcare community.

The day continued with breakout sessions that covered topics ranging from leadership for administrators to insurance challenges that could come up. Everything wrapped up with the exhibitor social.

Tim Rave, President and CEO of SDAHO, said the convention provides invaluable networking opportunities and education for all attendees.

“We have national speakers, I think people always kinda assume that with conferences, but we have such a vast array of knowledge within our state in the health care arena. We bring in local speakers, state speakers, and so it’s peers kinda interacting with peers and giving best practices and why that’s important and the things they’re doing and so yeah, just really exciting,” Rave said.

Rave added that the convention allows hardworking providers to take a break and get out of their everyday work routine.

The convention will head back to Sioux Falls for the next two years, but will be back in Rapid City in 2027.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KOTA. All rights reserved.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – This week we are highlighting Western South Dakota Community Action as part of our KOTA Cares series. The non-profit will be celebrating 60 years in 2025 and does it all when it comes to helping people move out of poverty.

The organization originally began to help the Rapid City area but currently serves 15 counties including Butte, Harding, Meade and Ziebach.

They have numerous programs from helping with transportation, employment, housing, basic needs to Medicare and other insurance plans and more.

They also have a thrift store that receives donations nearly every day from community members. The organization’s executive director, Shawn Burke, said they keep prices low so the people they serve can buy items for themselves.

Their programs include educational opportunities like their garden.

”We want to grow things that people can grow for themselves, that they can learn to cook or process or freeze or can and add to other food they might get, either charitable food or purchased food. Be able to get more nutritious food with a higher nutritional value,” Burke said.

If you are interested in donating your time or money to the organization, you can find more information on their website.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KOTA. All rights reserved.