Volunteer Spotlight:

Barb first became aware of Black Hills Works when she was growing up in Rapid City. When she moved back to the area, she the Suzie Cappa Art Center (SCAC) would be a good place to volunteer, and she fell in love! Seventeen years later, Barb continues to volunteer weekly and treasures the relationships she has formed over the years. “Coming in here every morning and having people happy to see me makes my heart sing!”

Barb is an upbeat, patient, kind, and talented individual with a knack for working with the people we support! She has a great skillset that she offers and is wonderful at sharing and teaching those skills. Her dedication to SCAC is evident through her consistent attendance and many ideas that she shares to help the art center grow! She has created incredible relationships with many of the artists and knows best how to work with individuals in a way that they are benefitting from what she has to offer. She is incredibly reliable and a great asset to the Suzie Cappa Art Center. Her favorite part of volunteering is working with the different artists, seeing their creativity come to life, and having the ability to share and grow her art skills alongside the artists. “Black Hills Works is a wonderful place to volunteer at. They care about you and value your skills and talent that you have to offer. It is very rewarding and fun, and the people are great to be around!” Thank you, Barb, for sharing your time and talents with us!

Congratulations to BHW staff that joined the 20 years plus club! Thank you for all your years of service!

Taylor has made HUGE strides bringing in the new year! Taylor has been working on finding a job for quite some time, and has successfully achieved her goal! Taylor works at the Central Kitchen every Friday. Taylor helps bag food items, wipes off tables and counters, and is learning additional skills. “I love my job!” she exclaims.

Taylor is part of our Behavioral Health program, and has been working very hard to overcome the barriers in her life. Every day she is making strides to be part of the community where she is a good neighbor, a valued friend, a productive worker, a respected leader, and a caring volunteer. Though she may have more barriers than other people supported, Taylor is always looking to the future so she can live the most fulfilled and meaningful life that she wants for herself. Congratulations, Taylor! Keep up the awesome work!

Submitted by Kevin Bybee

We were able to recognize our Safe Driver Program winners for 2022. Once again, Offutt Transportation “eeked” out a victory by the slimmest of margins (.004), edging out the Rapid City Transportation Department. Our Fir residential home came in a very respectable third place. The photos will be shared in March’s Workplace, so stay tuned.

2023 marked a new year and a new beginning to our competition. The “slate was wiped clean” and all departments start over.

I am looking forward to 2023 and the steps we take to become safer in our everyday duties. Keep safety in mind as you go about your day!

Bryce is working hard to get the word out about Inclusion Day on March 1. Keep an eye out for more information!

Submitted by Dan Kindall

The South Dakota Department of Human Services had its budget hearing with the Joint Appropriations committee in Pierre in January to outline the 2024 budget proposal and priorities. Black Hills Works sent a legislative team to the hearing to provide testimony on workforce issues pertaining to Direct Support Professionals and how those issues affect people served.

Jameson McClain (Parkview) shared how the impact that constant changes in the DSP workforce have on people supported. He emphasized the need for a competitive wage to recruit and retain DSPs. Skylar Smith (Community Homes) focused her testimony on the emotional impact the job has especially in light of medical emergencies, along with effects of experiencing the death of a person served.

Rhadonda Quandt (Minnesota) centered her testimony on experiencing situations where the residence is understaffed in contrast to when it is fully staffed. She mentioned working sixteen-hour days due to a lack of staffing. Rhadonda also outlined the responsibilities DSPs have on their shoulders, emphasizing that being fully staffed is a necessity to meeting the needs of people served.

As part of the BHW’s Legislative Team, parent and guardian Fred Steffen, whose son is a resident at Minnesota, emphasized that high staff turnover creates stress on people served since most have difficulty adjusting to change, and find it hard to build necessary relationships with DSPs. He went on to express concerns on how the lack of proper funding could negatively affect the already high standard of care exercised in the state.

After testimony, several legislators approached team members to express their appreciation and ask questions clarifying their experiences as DSPs.

Thank you to the Legislative Team for sharing your experiences with the Appropriations Committee!

Submitted by Kevin Bybee

January gave me a chance to reflect back on 2022 and look into how we performed as an agency within the safety realm. We were able to award departments for some great accomplishments in 2022. We had 11 locations which had zero accidents for the entire year. Those locations are Arizona, Anaconda, EAFB Supply Store, EAFB Mail Center, Edwards A, Fir, ITS 2, Parkview, Black Hills Brain Health, Unique Auto, and Woodworks. At the time of the deadline for this newsletter, some locations had not yet been given their certificate. We will share those with you next month. Congratulations to these locations!

Based on the order that you have in the Workplace, the locations are Black Hills Brain Health, Unique Auto Grooming, Woodworks, EAFB Mail Center, and EAFB Supply Store.