Section 4: State Project Feature

Section 4: State Project Feature – Meet the South Dakota AgrAbility Project Team

An Expanded AgrAbility Partnership

Since 1995, the South Dakota AgrAbility Project had been a partnership between South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension Service, Easter Seals, and Avera McKennan Hospital. During the past year the project partnership was expanded when the entire Avera Health system replaced the McKennan Hospital, a single Avera hospital. With this change has come not only increased administrative stability for the AgrAbility project, but the inclusion of the Project within all of the Avera affiliated hospitals.

This change has also brought together a larger network of professionals, which has enhanced the Project’s ability to meet its objectives. For example, all Avera Health's rural hospitals and healthcare facilities support AgrAbility and SOFY programs in the communities they serve, allowing the AgrAbility staff to tap the expertise of the occupational and physical therapists in those facilities.

Caregivers’ Conference

One of South Dakota AgrAbility’s most successful programs is its annual Caregivers’ Conference. Staff enlists rural caregiver resources, numerous individuals, and groups as partners in the effort. With program topics like caregiver needs, humor, stress management, communication, grief, and emotional health, staff strives to meet the program’s goals: to build caregiver self-esteem, to expand caregiver self-awareness, to teach caregivers to become their own advocates, and to build a statewide network that supports the rural caregiver.

The Caregivers Conference attracts caregivers, family members, persons with disabilities, and professionals from a variety of fields (e.g., nursing, physical and occupational therapy, family/consumer science education, and ministry). The next conference is scheduled for April 19-20, 2002, in Aberdeen, SD. If you wish to attend, present, exhibit, or help sponsor activities, contact Cyndi Scott at (605) 224-5879. To learn more, see http://agrability.sdstate.edu/care/.

Another of South Dakota AgrAbility’s primary efforts is to develop a strong peer support network. Staff encourages Project clients and caregivers to participate in the Breaking New Ground Barn Builders and Caregivers Network. AgrAbility promotes the network through local farm publications and radio advertisements. RadioSource.net, a unique collaboration to promote the research, education, and extension efforts of land-grant universities, currently features a South Dakota AgrAbility peer support ad on its website www.radiosource.net.

To overcome the barrier of distance between potential peer support meeting participants, staff is currently experimenting with hosting meetings through interactive video conferencing. The amount of time and coordination needed for these meetings is much greater than staff initially anticipated. To date, the number of participants has not been sufficient to warrant a broadcast. Staff plans, however, to continue their efforts to promote and offer the meetings with the hope that the number of participants will increase.

Participation is free but registration is required to assist with facility planning and accessibility issues. For a list of meeting sites and dates, contact Dan Robbins at (605) 688-5141.

South Dakota AgrAbility Staff

Dan Robbins, AgrAbility Project Director-South Dakota State University (SDSU), received both his B.S. (’93) and M.Ed. (‘95) in Agricultural Education from SDSU. Robbins has been the Project director since its inception. His responsibilities include “anything that has to do with the Project—primarily, worksite visits, educational programming, and networking with other state disability service providers.”
Cyndi Scott, AgrAbility Program Director-Easter Seals (ES), brings practical experience to the Project, having lived on a ranch for over 40 years. Scott organizes the annual Caregivers’ Conference, maintains the resource library, and prepares annual reports. She is developing a raised-bed gardening project and also directs three Project-related ES programs; the Save Our Farm Youth (SOFY) farm safety day camp, the Sowing the Seeds of Hope rural mental health program, and the Recycle for Life durable medical equipment recycling project.
Tami Lichtenberg, AgrAbility Project Manager-Avera Rural Health Institute, directs the marketing component of the Project. Lichtenberg has a B.A. (’93) in Journalism from Drake University. Her major Project marketing activities include media relations, promoting the Caregivers’ Conference, peer networking activities, the quarterly newsletter, publicizing client success stories, and creating general Project awareness.

For further information on the South Dakota AgrAbility Project, see http://agrability.sdstate.edu

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In This Issue
Section 1: Feature Story—Automatic Hitch and Modified Controls Help Temple Farm Section 2: Focus on Commercial Hitches Section 3: Assistive Technology Notes	Section 4: State Project Feature—South Dakota AgrAbility Section 5: Contacts