December 2015

Lillian Zirpel

Mitchell

Lillian Zirpel    Lillian “Lil” Zirpel, 85, of Mitchell, died Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell.
Funeral services were Friday, Dec. 18 at the Zion Lutheran Church in Mitchell with burial in Flensburg Immanuel Cemetery at rural Dimock. Visitation was Thursday, Dec. 17 with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at the Bittner Funeral Chapel in Mitchell.
Lillian was born Aug. 25, 1930, in Douglas County to Carl and Clara (Walz) Moege. She was baptized and later confirmed in the German language in June 1943 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church at rural Dimock. She attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse in Washington Township and graduated from Parkston High School in 1948.
On June 6, 1948, Lillian married Waldemar (Wally) Zirpel. Together they farmed 12 miles southwest of Mitchell. Wally died in 1993, and in 1994, she married Leonard Zirpel, who died in 1998.
In 2001, Lillian began working at Avera Select Insurance in Mitchell and retired in March 2013. She enjoyed playing cards, dancing, country music, embroidery and visiting with her children and grandchildren.
She is survived by her five children, Caroline (Duane) Schuh of Rapid City, Bill (Kathy) Zirpel of Dell Rapids, Jim (Becky) Zirpel of Burke, Rita (Jimmie Jr.) Pope of Cleveland, Ohio, and Bob (Carolyn) Zirpel of Humbolt; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; one great great-grandchild; one sister, LaVonne (Lawrence) Haiar; and her very special friend, Aleck Larson of Woonsocket.
Lillian was preceded in death by her parents; both husbands; and her brother, Willard Moege.

Donna Moran

Woonsocket

Donna Moran    Donna Rae Moran, 80, of Woonsocket, died Sunday, Dec. 13 in Prairie View Care Center in Woonsocket.
A Funeral Mass was held Friday, Dec. 18 at St. Wilfrid Catholic Church in Woonsocket with burial in the church cemetery. Visitation with a rosary and scripture service was Thursday, Dec. 17 at Basham Funeral Home in Woonsocket, and continued one hour prior to the funeral service at the church.
Donna Rae Moran was born May 6, 1935, at Reedsburg, Wis., to Ray and June (Shook) Montgomery. She attended school in Mitchell, graduating in 1953. Following graduation, Donna was employed by the Delaney Clinic in Mitchell as a receptionist and switchboard operator, a job she continued for 18 years.
She married Jim Moran on Aug. 16, 1969, in Woonsocket. They lived in Mitchell until the birth of their daughter, Molly, in 1971, when they relocated to Woonsocket. Donna became a homemaker and occasionally filled in as a secretary at Northwestern Public Service and Selland Trucking. She owned a business, Donna’s Videos, for a number of years.
Donne was active in the St. Wilfrid Parish, serving as a member of the Catholic Daughters of America and the Altar Society. She helped to teach CCD and was a member of the cemetery board. Donna supported the Woonsocket School District and volunteered much of her time as a chaperone for school functions and as member of the Music Boosters. She worked several city elections and served on the Woonsocket Public Library board, acting as president for a number of years.
She enjoyed baking, knitting, shopping and playing cards. She loved to read, listen to music and visit with family and friends.
Grateful to have shared her life are her husband, Jim of Woonsocket; daughter, Molly of Brookings; sister and brother-in-law, Kay and Dick Bailey of Mitchell; sisters and brothers-in-law, Cecilia and Leon Williams of Columbus, Neb., Nathlee Moran of Huron, Patricia and Larry Borgerding of Rolla, Mo., Dan and Trudy Moran of Madison, Mary and Denny Gere of Pierre, and Lynn Moran and Geraldine Moran, both of Mitchell; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Donna was preceded in death by her parents; her mother-in-law, Bertha, and father-in-law, Francis (Red) Moran; sisters and brothers-in-law, Mathew Moran, Rose Marie Moran, Maggie (Moran) and Carney Nelson, Larry and Bev Moran, Tommy Moran, and Lea Jane Moran; niece, Karen (Borgerding) Shore; and great nephew, Blaise Bailey.

Our son Booker was pretty sick when he was little. There were a number of times when Bryon and I had to have the conversation: “It’s midnight and something’s not right again. Do we take him to the hospital? Do we go now? Do we wait until morning?  It’s not like there’s a hospital around the corner.”
I assume many parents, particularly those in rural South Dakota, have had to ask those questions. It’s not always an easy call to make, especially when the roads are icy and temperatures have dipped below zero. But with recent advances in South Dakota’s telehealth options, these conversations may become a thing of the past.
Already today, families can see a doctor by just turning on their phones.  Both Avera and Sanford Health, for instance, offer smartphone apps that let you connect instantly with a physician who can help parents determine how serious that fever is and what can be done about it.  If only they had that when our kids were little!
Perhaps even more incredibly, telehealth programs operating out of South Dakota are giving many local clinics a medical upgrade, shrinking the distance between you and state-of-the-art care.
At the push of a button, your hometown doctor can connect to an experienced emergency physician, an ICU care team, a pharmacist, even specialists in the areas of cardiology or diabetes.  Through the use of two-way video feeds – much like you would use FaceTime or Skype – and specialized telehealth instruments, a doctor in Sioux Falls can have access to every bit of data being collected in the exam room.
With this information, they can talk your local physician through a crisis that they may not typically deal with or maybe just serve as a second set of eyes to help make sure you’re getting the best care possible.
I had the opportunity to tour Avera’s telehealth headquarters earlier this year. There were a few dozen computer stations that were staffed by accomplished physicians – many with more than two decades of experience. Each station was lined with four high-definition screens where the specialists could see everything from a patient’s vital stats to a real-time video feed of an operation they were counseling a local physician on. In that room, we saw high-quality health care being delivered across the Midwest to even the smallest of rural clinics. Sanford Health offers many of the same options through a similar program.
A growing number of health care providers in South Dakota are being assisted by telehealth professionals like this. The Avera site I visited in Sioux Falls services 235 sites across the Midwest alone and claims to have touched the lives of approximately 790,000 patients – from young families to Medicare recipients.
I never considered a life where Bryon and I weren’t raising our kids in rural South Dakota.  We saw so much value in what you learn by growing up this way. We’ve always loved it and I know many families in South Dakota feel the same way. Still, small health care providers are struggling to stay afloat, making it more difficult to attract families to small towns.
I’m hopeful new technologies can change this, which is why I’ll be fighting to make sure folks in Washington, D.C., understand why that’s so important that we support telehealth programs. It’s worth the investment. After all, telehealth may just be the prescription we need to bridge the gap between rural America and state-of-the-art medical care.

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