Ethics at the Edge: Exploring Contemporary Issues in Science, Technology and Health South Dakota Coalition for Spirituality and Healing
Center for Ethics and Caring at Sioux Valley Hospital / Augustana College
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
A threefold outreach, via graduate and undergraduate programs, faculty development, and community discussion was undertaken by this project to explore the broad range of the “unique tensions that exist between technology, science, religion, and health”. Local physicians, clergy, and academicians from the Center for Ethics and Caring at Sioux Valley Hospital, Augustana College of the Evangelical Luthern Church, the University of South Dakota School of Medicine Section of Ethics and Humanities and the \ take part in presentations of nationally recognized figures during lecture series, public forums, round-table discussions and an annual day-long conference. In 2001-2002, the thematic focus was on science, technology, and health. The following year, the emphasis was on “the ragged edge of death and dying in the technological age, with an emphasis on spirituality, personhood, and healthy in the continuum of chronic illness through the end of life”. The third year focused on reproduction and the family. The Center for Ethics and Caring at Sioux Valley Hospital provides matching funds as well as institutional and administrative support. Forging ahead, to continue programs beyond the three-year LSI grant term, members formed the South Dakota Coalition for Spirituality and Healing, a coalition of local academic, religious and healthcare institutions that has emerged from the original society.