Arielle Zionts
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ajzionts.bsky.social
Arielle Zionts
@ajzionts.bsky.social
350 followers 550 following 200 posts
✏️: Rural Health Reporter @KFFHealthNews.org
📍: Rapid City
✉️: ariellez@kff.org
🚨 Signal: Zionts_RuralHealthNews.22
😍: Story ideas, outdoors, animals, reading, history, art, gravel+mtn biking
❗️: RT means worth reading/knowing, not agreement
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ajzionts.bsky.social
Big news: The Sanford Black Hills Medical Center is coming to Rapid City. This will be our second full-fledged hospital.

Denny Sanford is giving $300 million for the $500 million project plus $10 million for health education in the Black Hills
A rendering of a large, modern building during sunset or sunrise. The building has a black roof with medium-brown walls that are nearly fully covered in windows/glass. There looks to be four stories to the building. There is a parking lot, road, and grassy area with a sidewalk in front of the building. A rendering showing a "zoomed out" view of the building described in the previous photo. In front of the building are parking lots, trees, green lawns, and a large pond with a fountain. There is a highway, open land, some buildings, forested areas, and a city in the background.
November 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
Meme from the Casper Planet
A square image of a massive pile of tumbleweeds in front of a power station. The upper left corner says “LIVE” and at the bottom is a red and yellow chyron that says “Breaking News” and “Massive Tumbleweed Avalanche Blamed For Regional Power Outage Across Wyoming and South Dakota.”
November 13, 2025 at 9:43 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
The face you make after you get your #MMR vaccine knowing you're helping to protect your health and your community's health!

“I did it!” Makaito Cuny said while smiling at his mother.

#measles
July 24, 2025 at 2:50 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
Just got a notification about my “Miscellaneous Mayo” test result 😂

I guess I now have a favorite name for a bloodwork lab … must be some uncommon test my doctor sent to a Mayo Clinic lab
A screenshot with a white background and text in black and blue that says “MISCELLANEOUS MAYO TEST” and “Miscellaneous Mayo Result.” It also lists the collection date/time.
June 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
ajzionts.bsky.social
Hans said he told billing staffers he couldn't afford the bill, but that they never mentioned the hospital's charity care program, which helps uninsured/low income patients afford care. Here is a MyChart message showing staffers didn't suggest Hans apply for the program:
A screenshot of a message that says "Good morning, Thank you for contacting us. As previously stated when speaking with you on 12/26/24 and 13/30/24 Monument Health does not participate with Medicaid of Florida. We do participate with Medicaid plans from those states surrounding South Dakota however due to the significant credentialing requirements of our multiple hospitals and hundreds of physicians we do not participate with all states. If you have further questions regarding your Medicaid coverage, please contact Medicaid of Florida directly to discuss any options that my be available to you.
May 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
I spoke with three patients and Dr. Henderson, the hospital's beloved, long-time family doctor who does prenatal care and vaginal births. She resigned soon after the birthing unit closed.

Here she is with Nanette, whose ER delivery was the last she did at the hospital.
This photo is in a doctor's exam room. A young, pregnant Native American woman with glasses and black hair is lying down with her shirt pulled up over her stomach. She's looking up at her doctor, who is wearing light blue scrubs and a yellow mask with a stethoscope around her neck and long gray-brown hair in a pony tail. The doctor is looking at the patient while holding a small white device in her hand that connects to a monitor she's using on the patient's uterus.
May 19, 2025 at 5:28 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
Israel has blocked all aid into Gaza for 74 days, causing more malnutrition, preventable diseases + lack of care for treatable conditions. Those can all lead to lifelong problems. This is on top of 19 months of trauma from forced relocations and Gazans seeing their loved ones killed+homes destroyed.
An emaciated girl has thin arms, visible ribs, and thinning, brown hair. She's wearing a royal blue tank top and looking at photo of herself on a phone from before the war. The old photo shows she had a full head of wavy brown hair. A mother wears a blue-and-white hijab and has a worried look on her face and in her eyes as she holds a crying baby. Four young children stand around her, most of them look tired and malnourished. An emaciated young boy lays sideways, away from the camera, as someone lifts up his shirt to reveal his visible ribs and spine. His legs are also extremely thin.
May 16, 2025 at 10:59 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
@kffhealthnews.org is following changes at HHS+how they’re impacting the entire country. We’re especially interested in ways everyday people are already being affected.

You can reach me securely on Signal if you have story ideas/tips, especially those related to rural health!
An image of a QR code for Signal and my Signal username: Zionts_RuralHealthNews.22
April 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
ajzionts.bsky.social
Hi, I just joined Bluesky! I'm a journalist who reports on rural health care at @kffhealthnews.org. I live in Rapid City, SD.

I write about things like telehealth being used to help a bison attack victim, a beloved Alabama doctor's retirement dilemma + a problematic Indian Health Service program.
A white man looks away from the camera with his rights arm stretched out. He's wearing a straw hat, black sunglasses, and a long-sleeve blue jean button-down shirt. He has a very long and busy blond mustache. He's standing on a dirt road with trees, a metal silo, and some equipment in the background. The sky is blue with few clouds. A Native American woman looks away from the camera while standing on a dry, grassy hill that rises in the background. She has short light brown hair that's blowing in the wind and glowing from the sun. She's wearing large silver earrings and a long, cream-colored jacket covered in geometric/diamond shapes in beige, black, and gray. Her hands are in her pockets. An older Black woman listens to a stethoscope placed on a younger Black woman's throat. The older woman is wearing silver earrings and a very light forest-green scrubs-style short-sleeve shirt. She has light gray natural hair that she's wearing in a bun with a black scrunchie and black clip. The younger woman's eyes and head are tilted up. She has black, shoulder-length natural hair and is wearing a black t-shirt with a large rectangle graphic filled with three anime characters. They are in a room with blank, white walls.
February 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM