• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Avera McKennan Hospital has again been verified as a Level II trauma center by a committee of the American College of Surgeons.
• The hospital has held the designation since 1992, when it became the first verified Level II trauma center in the state of South Dakota.
• Regional President and CEO David Kapaska says Avera is proud of the surgical, neurosurgical and emergency medicine teams that make the designation possible. Kapaska says the verification means that severely injured patients can receive immediate, life-saving care.
• Verified trauma centers must meet the essential criteria that ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance.
• Avera McKennan is one of three regional trauma hospitals in South Dakota.
•

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Some former South Dakota prison inmates recently earned their GED certificates, thanks in part to changes in the testing and scoring process.
• Prison officials say a state panel recently approved a scoring realignment for the GED test, bringing South Dakota's requirements in line with 48 other states. Passing scores were also made retroactive to July 1, 2009, making some inmates who had since been discharged from prison eligible to receive a GED certificate.
• Inmates entering the state prison system who lack a high school diploma are required to work toward completing their GED while incarcerated so they have a better chance of getting jobs when released. The General Equivalency Development tests measure high school equivalency.

(Continued on page 14)