Author

Arielle Zionts
Arielle Zionts, rural health care correspondent for KFF Health News, is based in South Dakota. She primarily covers South Dakota and its neighboring states and tribal nations. Arielle previously worked at South Dakota Public Broadcasting, where she reported on business and economic development. Before that, she was the criminal justice reporter at the Rapid City Journal and a general assignment reporter at the Nogales International, on the border of Arizona and Mexico. She graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Arielle lives in Rapid City with her cat, Sully.
Doctors on (video) call: Rural medics get long-distance help in treating man gored by bison
By: Arielle Zionts - December 5, 2023
GANN VALLEY — Rural medics who rescued rancher Jim Lutter after he was gored by a bison didn’t have much experience handling such severe wounds. But the medics did have a doctor looking over their shoulders inside the ambulance as they rushed Lutter to a hospital. The emergency medicine physician sat 140 miles away in […]
Thousands face Medicaid whiplash in South Dakota
By: Arielle Zionts - May 18, 2023
Until recently, Jonathon Murray relied on Medicaid to pay for treatments for multiple health conditions, including chronic insomnia. Murray, a 20-year-old restaurant worker from the college town of Brookings, said that without his medication, he would stay awake for several nights in a row. “I’d probably not be able to work that much because I’d […]
Community paramedics don’t wait for an emergency to visit rural patients at home
By: Arielle Zionts - April 28, 2023
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Sandra Lane said she has been to the emergency room about eight times this year. The 62-year-old has had multiple falls, struggled with balance and tremors, and experienced severe swelling in her legs. A paramedic recently arrived at her doorstep again, but this time it wasn’t for an emergency. Jason Frye was […]
It takes a village: Foster program is a new model of care for Indigenous children
By: Arielle Zionts - February 14, 2023
LA PLANT, S.D. — Past a gravel road lined with old white wooden buildings is a new, 8-acre village dotted with colorful houses, tepees, and a sweat lodge. The Simply Smiles Children’s Village, in this small town on the Cheyenne River Reservation, is home to a program aimed at improving outcomes and reducing trauma for […]
Telehealth brings expert sexual assault exams to rural patients
By: Arielle Zionts - January 3, 2023
Amanda Shelley was sitting in her dentist’s waiting room when she received a call from the police. A local teenage girl had been sexually assaulted and needed an exam. Shelley, a nurse in rural Eagle County, Colorado, went to her car and called a telehealth company to arrange an appointment with a sexual assault nurse […]
South Dakota voters approved Medicaid expansion, but implementation may not be easy
By: Arielle Zionts - November 14, 2022
RAPID CITY, S.D. — South Dakotans voted last week to expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover thousands of additional low-income residents, becoming the seventh state to approve expansion via the ballot box. But as other conservative states have shown, voter approval doesn’t always mean politicians and administrators will rush to implement the change. In […]
Campaigning ramps up as South Dakota voters decide on Medicaid expansion
By: Arielle Zionts - October 25, 2022
CUSTER, S.D. — A silver minivan decorated with a large sticker reading “Love Your Neighbor Tour” recently circumnavigated South Dakota. Catholic nuns, Protestant pastors, a synagogue president, and a Muslim nonprofit professional were among the interfaith leaders who packed into the rented six-seater or caravanned behind. The road trip’s mission: to register voters and urge […]