Monument Health’s Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon runs May 8 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. across five local radio stations, and every dollar raised stays in Rapid City.
On any given day, kids from Rapid City and across the region are inside Monument Health getting care their families used to have to travel hours to find. This Friday, May 8, the Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. across five Homeslice Media radio stations: The Cowboy 104.7, Hot 93.1, 93.9 The Mix, The Kat 98.7, and 100.3 The Fox.
Every penny raised stays right here in Rapid City.
What the Money Actually Does
Sean Powers, the Children’s Miracle Network program manager at Monument Health, knows people tend to picture CMN as a fund for big-ticket equipment. The equipment matters, and so do the things people don’t picture.
“The kids really appreciate the comfort items, the toys, the games, the stuffed animals, crayons, coloring books,” Powers said. “Those little things help them pass the time and distract them from what’s going on in the hospital. All purchased with funds through Children’s Miracle Network.”
Dr. Kyle Lemley, Monument Health’s pediatric critical care specialist, filled in more of the picture. Nobody schedules a hospital stay, so kids end up there on birthdays, at Christmas, during moments their families couldn’t have planned around.
“No one can plan when they get admitted to the hospital,” Lemley said. “For kids, birthdays sometimes happen in the hospital. Christmas. Santa Claus visits. All of those kinds of things, to help kids cope with being in the hospital at an inopportune time.”
CMN funds cover the birthday present, the coloring books, and the equipment Lemley reaches for in the pediatric ICU. The range is wider than most donors realize.
Your Dollar Doesn’t Leave Town
“One hundred percent of what you give stays in this community and goes to the areas where you want to see it go,” Powers said.
That covers the pediatric ICU, the NICU, the emergency department, and Monument Health’s family medicine residency clinic. Anywhere inside Monument Health where kids receive care, CMN dollars are in play.
CMN also supports patients all the way up to age 18, so this isn’t a fund built only around the youngest kids. If a teenager needs specialized care or ends up in the ER, this is the fund that helps cover what surrounds that experience.
How to Give This Friday
The radiothon runs all day Friday, May 8, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tune in across five Homeslice stations: The Cowboy 104.7, Hot 93.1, 93.9 The Mix, The Kat 98.7, and 100.3 The Fox.
Three ways to give:
Call the Black Hills Tire phone bank: (605) 755-9199
Text BH4KIDS to 34984
Donate online at monument.health/cmn
Powers said knowing where your dollar goes matters when you’re deciding where to give. With CMN at Monument Health, that answer is specific: the kid in the pediatric ICU, the newborn in the NICU, the teenager in the ER, the family that didn’t have to leave Rapid City to get good care. It goes to all of them.
It stays here. That’s worth a phone call.
