Health

Total 149 Posts

Burn pit legislation passed by Congress, but challenges await veterans needing care

Combat veterans in South Dakota are encouraged by new legislation in Congress to expand treatment and benefits for soldiers exposed to toxic burn pits during deployment overseas, but questions remain about the federal government’s ability to effectively provide the needed health care. Those questions partly explain why Republican senators

New, more contagious COVID-19 variant pushing infection rates back up in South Dakota

The emergence of the latest COVID-19 variant, which makes up nearly 80% of new cases nationally, is raising additional health concerns due to its ability to infect people even if they are vaccinated or have had a prior infection, and health officials are increasingly recommending precautions such as masking indoors

Updated: Concerns over dueling Medicaid ballot measures leads to compromise

Update: One ballot measure dropped in wake of News Watch story On July 11, Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland withdrew Initiated Measure 28 from the November ballot and announced that his group will join South Dakotans Decide Healthcare in pushing for the passage of Constitutional Amendment D. Both coalitions

School counselors in SD playing larger role amid student mental health crisis

DELL RAPIDS, S.D. – Sara Holmberg’s job as a counselor at Dell Rapids Middle School has never been more challenging. As fallout from the pandemic creates what the U.S. Surgeon General calls a “youth mental health crisis,” school counselors like Holmberg find themselves providing not just academic and

South Dakota veteran denied benefits after exposure to toxic burn pits

WEBSTER, S.D. – When President Joe Biden mentioned the term “burn pits” while discussing health benefits for military veterans during his State of the Union address March 1, many Americans heard of the issue for the first time. Congress is crafting legislation to assist post-9/11 combat veterans exposed to

Rising anger and violence toward healthcare workers hampering patient care in SD

Increasing anger and even violence toward healthcare workers in South Dakota and across the U.S. is adding great stress on practitioners who are already enduring the pain and hardship of providing care during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers in South Dakota have been called offensive names, faced threats

Child hospitalizations, Long-COVID concerns rise amid omicron surge in South Dakota

As COVID-19 infections sweep across South Dakota in record numbers, concerns are rising that children and adolescents are suffering more severe illness than before and may be susceptible to symptoms that can afflict them long into their lifetimes. A growing body of medical research and reports from pediatricians in South
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