The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation takes steps in Missing and Murdered Search and Rescue. Approximately 60 percent of the 140 unsolved missing person cases in South Dakota are Native American, according to data from the South Dakota Missing Persons Clearinghouse. A new initiative, led by the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, aims to implement search and rescue teams on the ground in Pine Ridge to help search for people as soon as they go missing. On June 22nd, 22 volunteers were search and rescue certified after a three day training. Volunteers came from a mix of Thunder Valley staff and members of the Thunder Valley workforce cohort.
A new study found that maternal mortality in the U.S. more than doubled between 1999 and 2019, and in that 10-year span, Native American populations saw the largest increase in maternal mortality when compared to any other racial or ethnic group. Maternal mortality, or maternal death, refers to a death during or up to a year after the end of pregnancy. Maternal mortality risk is related to who you are and where you live. Experts say disparate health outcomes are the result of various factors, including economic stability, education, social context, structural racism and environment.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.