Health

Military veterans who served at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City and at Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station in Sioux Falls are part of new national class-action lawsuits seeking damages due to exposure to toxic chemicals in firefighting foam.

One in four births in South Dakota is performed via cesarean section, and those births can range from the routine to the traumatic. In the first in a collaboration with SDPB's South Dakota Focus show, we look into how monthly meetings have a healing effect on moms who went through the procedure.

A country music star renowned for giving back and a psychologist at the forefront of improving mental health access are among this year’s 10 inductees into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. 

South Dakota was one of seven states that decided against applying for a federal program that would have provided $7.5 million to feed low-income kids, a decision that drew the ire of some experts across the state.

Several South Dakota Marines who were stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina decades ago now have cancer and other serious health problems that they believe were caused by contaminated drinking water at the base. Three of them spoke to News Watch about their conditions and pursuit of justice.

A Minnesota doctor who helps procure mail-order medication abortions for South Dakota women said she plans to continue that practice even if the U.S. Supreme Court outlaws or limits the use of mifepristone.

The highly contagious virus known as RSV is spreading fast among children in South Dakota and across the U.S., raising concerns among medical officials that a more virulent strain of the virus is striking earlier in the year than usual and may sicken large numbers of children and eventually overwhelm pediatric intensive care units in hospitals.

Those who want all American schoolchildren to have access to free meals at school are looking to the U.S. Congress for the authorization and money to pay for the meals. But for now, no firm plan exists in Washington, D.C. to get universal free meals approved.

A federal program that provided free meals to all American schoolchildren during COVID-19 has ended, causing more students than usual to go hungry in South Dakota schools. Many families, already enduring inflation, are having a harder time affording food for their children or buying them meals at school. Schools and teachers are doing their best to keep students healthy and fed.

The new investment of $350 million into a Virtual Health Initiative by Sanford Health of Sioux Falls comes at time that experts say the potential has never been higher for the expanded use and revenue generation of telemedicine. Sanford and other healthcare groups saw a major spike in use of telemedicine services during the COVID-19 pandemic that many expect will continue well into the future.