Kiewit-Alberici makes donation to Monument Health Lead-Deadwood Hospital

DEADWOOD, S.D. (Feb. 16, 2021) — Kiewit-Alberici, the construction firm involved in the Sanford Underground Lab’s Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), recently donated $5,000 to Monument Health Lead-Deadwood Hospital and Clinic.

The joint venture created by Omaha-based Kiewit and St. Louis-based Alberici Corp. was hired to rehabilitate, repair and refurbish the former Homestake Gold Mine to accommodate DUNE. The Kiewit-Alberici teams will likely be working in the Lead-Deadwood area for four years, said Project Manager Scott Lungren. “We’re kind of new to the area, and we want to show our support for the local community,” Lungren said. “We live and work here, too.”

The donation made it possible for the hospital to fast track plans to purchase new fourth-generation modules for the 12-lead electrocardiogram system used in each of the hospital’s ambulances, said Mark Schmidt, President of Lead-Deadwood Hospital and Market. Other purchases are planned as well, Schmidt said.

The 12-lead system allows emergency medical technicians to create an electrocardiogram of the patient’s heart from every angle, added Aaron Zimmiond, Supervisor of the Lead-Deadwood Ambulance Department. The new modules allow the EMT crews to transmit that information to the hospital Emergency Department or a cardiologist in Rapid City to determine the extent of the patient’s heart attack — before the patient arrives at the hospital.

During a heart attack, this type of fast evaluation and collaboration is critical to improving a heart patient’s outcome, because the heart muscle deteriorates quickly when it’s deprived of oxygen. “We say time is muscle, and the hour after symptoms first appear is the ‘Golden Hour,’” Zimmiond said.

The Foundation for Health, the Lead-Deadwood nonprofit that supports Monument Health Lead-Deadwood Hospital and other health care related efforts in the Northern Hills, will facilitate the Kiewit-Alberici donation. “The foundation really appreciates this type of support for quality health care in the Lead-Deadwood area, and we thank Kiewit-Alberici for looking outward with generosity,” said Laurie Wince, Executive Director of the Foundation for Health.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Dan Daly
Communications Specialist
Strategic Marketing and Communications
Monument Health
ddaly@monument.health