Accomplishments

Pandemic planning and crisis standard of care:

• In late 2022, LifeCircle pulled together the same health systems, agencies and organizations to develop the Pediatric Crisis Standards of Care.  Pediatric specialists from all three major health system helped guide an adaptation of the adult standards previously developed, that reflect the special care needed for the pediatric population.  The final draft of this standard of care was completed a year later following the same process used in creating the adult standard of care.
• Education about this crisis standard of care is now the focus. Members of LifeCircleSD have participated in statewide panels and will continue to do so in 2022.
• In the spring of 2020, it was becoming clear that COVID was a serious threat. There was an old pandemic crisis standard of care document written in 2009 by the Sioux Falls Bioethics Network. LifeCircle brought this document forward mid-2020 and gathered important stakeholders from South Dakota to discuss and rewrite. These experts included people from the hospital systems, state government and healthcare organizations. We spent the next year researching other state documents, national guidelines, legal assessments and ethical analysis. This culminated in a new crisis standard of care document that is supported by the large hospital systems, several independent hospitals, and the SD DOH.

Professional and pre-professional education:

• 2025- Advance Care Planning and Hospice Training videos were created to help South Dakota’s long-term care facilities meet their educational requirements.
• The Quarterly Conference Call (QCC) focuses on EOL education for healthcare professionals. In 2020 the focus was on diversity at end of life in SD. Speakers from the Native American, Hispanic, Muslim, African American and Jewish communities provided education. The QCCs cover a wide array of topics to improve care delivery for people living with serious illness. In 2025 LifeCircle increased educational opportunities from quarterly to monthly. SDAHO also offers continuing education through their partnerships with Hospice Foundation of America (HFA); Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC); Social Work in Hospice and Palliative Care (SWHPN); The MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care; and The Alliance for Care at Home (formerly National Hospice and Palliative Care Network (NHPCO).
• The Academic Work Group developed the Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Seminar in 2001. This was taught by interdisciplinary faculty for students of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work and chaplaincy. This was a cutting-edge seminar held three times a year and educated nearly 2,000 students. Over the 22 years, several research studies on interdisciplinary education were completed and their articles published in prestigious palliative care journals. The last seminars were in the fall of 2021. The medical school leadership changed their focus of palliative care education and removed the medical students from the seminar; and the Academic Work group disbanded.
• Interdisciplinary Seminar in Winner SD, September 22, 2014 – This was a daylong seminar held in Winner, for interdisciplinary teams in the region to learn together the basics of palliative and hospice care. The faculty were interdisciplinary. Continuing education credits were provided.
• Summit Conferences in 2006, 2007, 2008 – Statewide conference for professionals caring for patients and families at the end of life.

Guardianship:

• Clinician members of LifeCircle SD shared concerns about the guardianship program in South Dakota.  Many guardians appear to have difficulty making healthcare decisions. In 2022, a subgroup of LifeCircle members began working with the State Bar Association and the Guardianship Program to help educate guardians on healthcare decision making.  Videos and worksheets are available on the SDAHO website.
• Educational material is being developed with plans to put this material on a statewide organization’s webpage.
• Several of the Quarterly Conference Calls have addressed this issue.

Public policy:

• Crisis Standard of Care policy, 2020-2021.
• Several members of LifeCircleSD are public policy experts and attend the legislative session every year in Pierre. They keep LifeCircle apprised of pertinent legislative issues related to end of life care.
• During the 2024 legislative session SB 147, co-sponsored by Senator Jean Hunhoff (R) and Representative Taylor Rehfeldt (R), was signed into law that put a definition of palliative care into statute and provides for the distribution of informational materials regarding palliative care.
• In 2019 a small workgroup along with Senator Deb Soholt (R) worked to develop and pass legislation for the South Dakota Medical orders for Scope of Treatment – SD MOST.  This is a transportable medical order for those with end-stage disease.  It is known nationally as POLST.
• Discussed and supported Medicaid expansion and endorsement on SD Decide.
• SD Out of Hospital DNR, which became Comfort One. 2004, and 2005
• Worked with SD Bar Association to revise the Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and the living will. Testified before committee and educate legislators. 2006-2007

Collaboration with the SD Palliative Care Coalition:

• A statewide group with the focus on nursing education and networking of palliative care healthcare professionals.

Summary of Other Major Accomplishments

• In 2025 LifeCircle-South Dakota’s Hospice and Palliative Care Network launched its own website separate from SDAHO but still accessible through their website. It also rebranded the work done through LifeCircle with an updated logo to show the organizational structure as one of SDAHO’s programs. 
• The South Dakota Hospice Service Area Map and South Dakota Palliative Care Directory were created in 2023 & 2024.
• In 2022, a Hospice & Palliative Care website was created and housed under the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations’ (SDAHO) main website Hospital & Lon Term Care tab.  The content includes information for healthcare professionals and the public on: LifeCircle SD; Advance Care Planning; Hospice Care; Palliative Care; South Dakota Hospice Service Areas; South Dakota Palliative Care Directory
• Sioux Falls Resource Directory 2008 – The Palliative Care & End of Life Resource Directory was developed for healthcare providers, and other professionals, who provide care and services to individuals, and their families, facing a chronic illness or terminal diagnosis. This directory is a resource for services, programs and funding mechanisms available to patients and families in the Sioux Falls area in need of information, education, and support to manage chronic illness and end-of-life issues. Please, share this information with colleagues and patients as it is our hope that this tool will: help patients and families as they navigate the complex system of healthcare services and programs, procure optimal services and make difficult decisions, increase community awareness of care & end-of-life services and programs; and improve quality of life at the end-of-life.
• Art Exhibit – “Living until we die” a traveling journal and photographic exhibit of Augustana College seniors engagement with individuals at the end of life. This was part of the Capstone Course taught by Dr. Ann Pederson and Dr. LuAnn Eidsness, “Living until we die, dying until we live.”
• Public Education – Community forums (D2K 2004, Advance care planning)