Latest news with #SiouxFalls-based
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Alex Post: Aspiring, inspirational swimmer
BROOKINGS, SD (KELO) — There are no lazy summer afternoons lounging by the pool for a Brookings man. Instead, Alex Post is jumping into the water as part of his training to become a world-class swimmer. Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School Board facing a lawsuit His rigorous workouts are an inspiration to others who may be facing challenges of their own. Post swims dozens of laps in the pool at the Miller Wellness Center at SDSU. 'Very exhausting. Especially if I do about half of them are backstrokes, the rest is more of the butterflies and that's a lot harder for me,' Post said. Post is constantly trying to improve his time. 'I could swim in a 25-meter, I think my best time is 45-seconds, which is really good for a guy like me,' Post said. Post, 24, has been swimming for much of his life. But just a couple months ago, he discovered he could swim without a life jacket. And that would plunge him into uncharted waters. 'At first, I was afraid to swim. I thought I was going to drown. And so, I finally had to get past that fear and just do it,' Post said. You see, he swims without any legs. 'I was born with the rare genetic disease called arthrogryposis which affects muscle and bone,' Post said. A dozen years ago, Post decided to have his legs surgically removed. 'A lot of my joints are frozen into place. They can't move and so I knew I was never going to be able to walk with my legs so I told my parents I wanted to remove my legs,' Post said. Now he aspires to compete in the Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. But first, he'll have to compete in preliminary events at the regional and national level. Whenever Post is in the water, he's overflowing with confidence. 'He's driven, super-outgoing, confident and then the biggest thing is he's reliable. Every day he wants to get better,' Post's coach and caregiver Scott Ault said. South Dakota's fall pheasant outlook is 'very positive' 'I push myself and it gets tough sometimes because the muscles hurt. Everything's going to hurt and I know that I'm going to get there,' Post said. Post is staying in his lane in pursuing his paralympic dream. But he's looking beyond his own ambitions to bring hope to others. 'I'm not just trying to inspire people with disabilities. But people that think they're not good enough in life, that want to give up and I just want to show people there's no point in giving up, there's something that you can do,' Post said. Leaving a legacy of determination and drive in his wake. 'One of the things my mother always said was: you shoot for the moon and if you don't get there, you'll still fall amongst the stars. And that's Alex in a nutshell,' Ault said. Post is a client of Right at Home In-Home Care & Assistance. The Sioux Falls-based company is sponsoring his Paralympics quest. He is looking for additional help. If you'd like to be a sponsor, we have a link to his Facebook page. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
'It happens here,' Call to Freedom director says of human trafficking
May 13—MITCHELL — Five clients of Call to Freedom from Mitchell. Countless more across South Dakota. And for Davison County Sheriff Steve Harr, a case that still sticks in his mind, where justice never came. This stark reality was shared Tuesday afternoon at the Mitchell Lions Club meeting, where members heard from Call to Freedom, a Sioux Falls-based nonprofit that has worked with survivors of human trafficking across the state since 2016. "Human trafficking is a reality in South Dakota," said Rachel Schartz, director of impact and program relations with Call to Freedom. "It happens in every community in South Dakota. And until we educate ourselves and become aware, take our heads out of the sand, we'll never be able to solve this issue." Since its founding, Call to Freedom says it has served more than 1,500 clients — many of whom are from smaller, rural communities like Mitchell. The organization has worked in 61 of the state's 66 counties, providing support to individuals statewide. In 2023, Call to Freedom provided assistance to a record 527 individuals. The event was organized by District 20 Sen. Paul Miskimins, a former Lions Club president, who invited Schartz after hearing her speak at the South Dakota Lions convention earlier this year. He hoped the presentation would raise awareness about human trafficking in the state and the resources available for those impacted. "I brought her here to share about human trafficking and what they're doing to help those who have been impacted," Miskimins said. "When you're in the legislature, you have an opportunity to do good — to help others and to try to build a better future for people in South Dakota." Among those listening to Schartz's presentation were Sheriff Steve Harr and Chief Deputy Tim Reitzel, both of whom have worked closely with Call to Freedom, referring individuals in need of support. Schartz confirmed that at least five clients of Call to Freedom have come from Mitchell. Harr added that while some cases might not have been officially labeled as trafficking, several over the years, including one particularly memorable case, likely fit under that umbrella. "Unfortunately, none of those cases ever moved far enough along in the legal process to find justice," Harr said. Schartz explained that getting trafficking cases to court is a persistent challenge. Victims often don't recognize themselves as victims, especially when manipulation or coercion is involved, sometimes by close family members or trusted acquaintances. Fear of retaliation and a distrust of the system also prevent many from speaking out. "The reality is that human trafficking doesn't always look like what you might expect. It can be someone you know, a family member, or even a trusted friend," Schartz said. "That's why it's so hard to get these cases to a place where we can prosecute them." A new state law, set to take effect on July 1, is seen as a potential game-changer in addressing these challenges. Previously, individuals convicted of trafficking could have their entire sentence suspended, allowing traffickers to avoid serving time. The new law aligns South Dakota's sentencing guidelines with federal law, eliminating the option for suspended sentences in trafficking convictions. This is a critical step in ensuring that those convicted face the full consequences of their actions. "I'm glad the new legislation will be in place should we ever need it," Harr said. Schartz believes the law will serve as a valuable tool in combating trafficking in the future, sending a stronger message that South Dakota will not tolerate trafficking. Since its founding in 2016, Call to Freedom has helped survivors rebuild their lives. Its new facility in Sioux Falls, which opened in late April, is designed to better meet the needs of survivors. The facility features expanded services, including therapy rooms, emergency supplies, a clothing boutique, and more space for training and volunteer activities. Schartz emphasized that many people still believe human trafficking only occurs in large cities or involves international smuggling, but that's not the case. Victims can be trafficked locally, and many are manipulated or coerced into exploitative situations by those closest to them. "Too often, young people are exchanging inappropriate material with someone they believe to be a peer, when in reality, it's an adult manipulating the situation," Schartz said. "This is one of the many ways traffickers exploit vulnerabilities and take advantage of our youth." Schartz also discussed how trafficking can be difficult to identify. Survivors may not always show visible signs of abuse, and the trauma can affect every aspect of their lives, from their mental health to their physical well-being. She advised the Lions Club members to trust their instincts when encountering situations that feel wrong. "If you suspect someone might be involved in trafficking, trust your gut," she said. "It's not always easy to spot, but if something feels off, don't ignore it." The discussion also touched on prevention efforts, with Call to Freedom working to educate communities about trafficking and provide resources for individuals who may be at risk. The organization collaborates closely with law enforcement, medical professionals, and social services to intervene quickly when trafficking situations are identified. "We need more than just awareness," Schartz said. "We need action, education, and resources to support these survivors." Miskimins, reflecting on the day's discussion, reminded the group of the importance of continuing to shine a light on difficult issues like human trafficking. "Cherish your victories," Miskimins said. "Because you can't win all the time and sometimes it's a tragedy and it hurts. But when you make a difference, those are the ones you've got to hold on to."
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Speaking the same language: Opioid programs connect overdose victims with recovered mentors
Cameron Nielson is a 27-year-old Sioux Falls resident in recovery from opioid use disorder. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Shame consumed Cameron Nielson as he lay curled and shaking on an emergency room bed. Nurses shouldn't have to rush to care for him, he thought. Other patients deserved attention more than him. This was his seventh relapse. His mother drove him to the emergency room with severe withdrawal symptoms from opioids and Xanax last summer after his drugs were stolen from his safe, he said. Medicine for opioid use saves lives. But SD doctors hesitate to prescribe it, advocates say. SD uses portion of opioid settlement funds to distribute overdose prevention kits 'I hated myself,' the 27-year-old Sioux Falls resident remembered. He accepted medication from one of the nurses to stop the withdrawal symptoms. His head was clearer and he could fall asleep, but the shame remained. Vanessa Needles entered the room after he woke up. She wasn't a nurse, but a peer support specialist meant to connect Nielson to resources. His shame turned to embarrassment, but it soon became gratitude for the medical staff and Needles. Needles spoke his language in a way the nurses and doctors surrounding him couldn't. She overdosed once herself and struggled with alcohol use, eventually leading to a car crash that killed her coworker in 2017. Needles and Nielson started experimenting with drugs and alcohol around 14 years old. They'd both done things and treated their loved ones in ways they regret. He wasn't alone. Needles, who is seven years sober, offered Nielson grace. 'When you're trying to get off of it, the littlest thing makes the biggest difference,' Nielson told South Dakota Searchlight. 'The most valuable thing is having someone understand what you're going through.' Needles is one of nine peer support specialists in eastern South Dakota with Sioux Falls-based nonprofit Emily's Hope. Their work is part of a pilot program overseen by the state Department of Social Services and launched in January 2024 to reduce overdoses by providing 'essential supports and strengthening connections' to local resources, according to a statement from the department. Rapid City-based Project Recovery piloted the program in western South Dakota. The pilots are funded by national opioid settlement dollars, costing $346,445. The national opioid settlement was reached in 2021 to resolve opioid litigation against the country's three largest pharmaceutical distributors and one manufacturer. More than $50 billion in settlement funds are being delivered to state and local governments from the companies accused of flooding communities with opioid painkillers even though they allegedly knew how addictive and deadly the drugs were. South Dakota is set to receive $54 million of settlement funding within the next two decades. The department plans to continue funding the program with settlement dollars through 2029, based on a plan presented to the opioid advisory council in April. The two organizations received a combined 34 referrals since the program's launch and connected with 26 people to provide resources. Between 2016 and 2020, there were more than 2,400 drug-related hospitalizations and 684 drug-related deaths in South Dakota. Angela Kennecke, founder and CEO of Emily's Hope, said the organization works closely with emergency room departments for referrals. Sometimes the initial contact yields later results. One woman who ended communication with a peer support specialist last year picked communication back up this year to seek help. 'I always say a seed is planted,' Kennecke said. 'Even if they don't go into treatment immediately or they don't go on medication and get the help they need, a seed has been planted that there is someone there to help them when they're ready.' Kennecke's daughter, Emily, died of a fentanyl overdose, laced in heroin she injected. Her family was planning to enroll her into a treatment program when she died in May 2018. Project Recovery has found most of its success working with Rapid City's Fusion Center, which is a law enforcement task force. The clinic receives referrals based on overdose data collected by law enforcement. Kendra Joswiak, clinical practice director at Project Recovery, said her response team connected with 82% of activations, 56% of which continue to be engaged in addiction service treatments. Needles, a 30-year-old mother of two — soon to be three — served as a peer support specialist for years in other capacities before working with Emily's Hope to meet with overdose victims in the emergency room. She's previously talked with people struggling with substance use on the street, and she's shared her story with jail inmates. The program bridges gaps in South Dakota's behavioral health infrastructure, she said. It also destigmatizes substance use within the medical profession and in the community, and gives a sense of purpose to those in recovery. 'By helping someone stay sober, I stay sober another day,' Needles said. 'I can stand in front of them and tell them that this is scary and sh—y, but that it's going to get better.' Peer support specialists with Emily's Hope receive a group text when an overdose victim arrives at a Sioux Falls-area hospital. Whoever is available goes, Needles said. Most of the time, people have already checked out of the hospital before a specialist arrives. She remembers when she overdosed a decade ago, and she left the hospital as soon as she could because she was scared. She needed to cope with her emotions, and the only way she knew how was to use again. She and other peer support specialists will follow up with patients after they leave the hospital, dropping off bags of fentanyl test strips or medication to prevent overdose. She'll hand them to the patient, parents or spouses — whoever she can find. After Nielson was admitted to the hospital and into a treatment program through Avera Health, Needles joined him each Friday. She checks in on him to see how he's feeling and has taken him to support meetings since he completed treatment. She sent him a coin and card when he reached three months of sobriety late last year. CONTACT US Nielson is eight months sober. He's taking a Suboxone prescription to eliminate cravings, and he feels more like himself, he said. He started reading again, hasn't missed a day of work and spends time with his 3-year-old son each week. It's something he couldn't have dreamed of a decade ago. Needles' guidance and support reminds Nielson he's not alone and what he's capable of achieving. 'Besides Vanessa, I don't have another person to talk to regularly who knows what I'm going through or is sober,' Nielson said. 'It can kind of get lonely after you cut off every friend you had, since they were all part of my addiction.' One relationship isn't a lot, but it's a start, Needles said. She hopes as others learn about medications for opioid use disorder and about efforts to curb overdose deaths in the state, overdose response teams will be able to reach more people. 'Everybody deserves a little bit of grace,' Needles said. 'We're all struggling one way or another.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
SD uses portion of opioid settlement funds to distribute overdose prevention kits
Naloxone harm reduction kits will be available in some public spaces across South Dakota due to a partnership between the state and Emily's Hope, officials announced on April 25, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) About 20,000 opioid overdose prevention kits will be distributed across South Dakota thanks to a partnership between the state and Sioux Falls-based nonprofit Emily's Hope. The kits are filled with naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses, along with other resources and information. Emily's Hope founder and CEO Angela Kennecke, whose daughter died from a fentanyl overdose in 2018, announced the partnership in Sioux Falls on Friday alongside South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, state Health Department Secretary Melissa Magstadt and state Social Services Department Secretary Matt Althoff. The distribution is funded with $350,000 of South Dakota's $78.6 million 'and counting' in national opioid settlement funds, Jackley said. The national opioid settlements were reached to resolve opioid litigation against pharmaceutical distributors and manufacturers accused of flooding communities with opioid painkillers even though they allegedly knew how addictive and deadly the drugs were. South Dakota will receive about $50 million over the next 15 years from the first settlement and will receive another $28.6 million over the next 17 years from a settlement with Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Teva and Allergan. 'That's what is so important about this partnership is it's putting those dollars back to work to save and protect people,' Jackley said. Teva pharmaceuticals donated 2,313 kits for the effort and sold the other kits at a discounted rate to the state. Ninety-five South Dakotans died from overdoses in 2023, according to the state Department of Health. Forty-seven of the deaths were opioid-related, and 39 of those were fentanyl-related, Magstadt said. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. 'Since 2019, we've had a 70% increase in the amount of fentanyl deaths in South Dakota,' Magstadt said. 'It's hitting home.' The program will target areas of the state impacted the most by opioid use, overdoses and death, officials said. The top 10 counties impacted, according to Emily's Hope, are Minnehaha, Lincoln, Pennington, Corson, Roberts, Turner, Todd, Oglala Lakota, Beadle and Meade. Although most overdose deaths are among white residents, Native Americans are disproportionately affected. Native Americans die from overdoses at a rate of 26.6 per 100,000 — more than four times the rate among white South Dakotans, according to the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System. The kits will be placed in publicly accessible areas, Kennecke said. Emily's Hope has been distributing naloxone kits, primarily in the Sioux Falls area, for nearly a year. The organization has distributed about 6,000 kits in that time. Although most overdoses occur in private residences, they also happen in public restrooms, in traffic or on the street, Kennecke said. Offering them in public allows more bystanders to access the drug and intervene. 'Our goal is to have one of these kits in every house, in every business, by every AED possible,' Kennecke said. AEDs are automated external defibrillators that help people in cardiac arrest, many of which are stationed in public areas and offices throughout the state. Magstadt called naloxone a 'one more chance' medicine, since it halts overdose symptoms and opens a window for people to seek treatment for opioid use disorder. Administering naloxone will not harm someone who isn't experiencing overdose, she said, and victims often appear sleepy while overdosing from opioid use. The state has distributed about 15,000 naloxone kits in the last eight years to law enforcement, emergency medical services and schools across the state using a federal grant. About 3,600 kits have been distributed to public spaces through the new program so far. South Dakota's current plan in the Department of Social Services is to put a majority of settlement dollars into a trust fund to gain interest over time. Althoff said he wants to ensure the money is spent wisely rather than 'spend this precious resource for the sake of spending.' Jackley told South Dakota Searchlight he doesn't agree with the trust fund approach and he'd rather see the funds be put toward prevention and treatment immediately. That includes funneling some of the settlement money toward rehabilitation for South Dakota prisoners, he said. 'Today, there was a minimal amount of money used from that settlement to save lives,' Jackley said. 'We need to do more of that.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GreatLIFE is now employee owned
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — Following years of expansion and growth, GreatLIFE Golf and Fitness Club announced it's transitioning to becoming employee owned. 'Succession planning has always been a thing for companies looking for legacy and future,' GreatLIFE President Nick Ovenden said. 'This was something that we've been exploring for the last five years.' Dog dead after being shot in Hamlin County The ownership change allows GreatLIFE team members to become employee-owners in the Sioux Falls-based business. 'Everyone who has been with us and hit certain criteria, now are owners of the company, and it's roughly about 100 people,' GreatLIFE CEO Tom Walsh said. Staff say the decision gives them the ability to make local decisions based on the needs of each GreatLIFE location. 'We're in several different communities right now, and in the future, if we have plans to be able to grow to other places, if that's part of our plan, then we'll be able to make local decisions based on those places as well,' Ovenden said. GreatLIFE said there's no impact to those who currently use its facilities. 'We're going to continue being involved in the community and helping with every program that we can,' Walsh said. 'With GreatLIFE Cares, doing things that are best for the community and our charitable partners.' GreatLIFE has a number of locations in Sioux Falls including golf courses and a bowling also has fitness centers in Dell Rapids, Hartford and Yankton. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
