One year ago, on April 12, 2024, LifeScape broke ground on Phase 1 of a new children’s campus in Sioux Falls. Walls now enclose much of the structure — the pediatric rehabilitation specialty hospital, the specialty school, the residential area, and the administration space. We are so grateful for the many donors who have helped make the new children’s campus a reality! We have $97 million committed to the project and are now finalizing Phase 2 plans.
The vision for Phase 2 includes a gym, pool, therapy pool, enclosed courtyard, clinic room and a student-run convenience store. The cost is estimated at $12 million, and we have $5 million left to raise. That last $5 million will make a significant difference in the opportunities of care possible on the new campus.
The last $5 million would provide a separate corridor for children in the hospital to access the pool and gym areas, apart from children being supported in the behavioral therapy areas. To ensure safety, great care is taken that these two groups of children are not in the same spaces together.
Phase 2 would include the only pediatric therapy pool in the region. Although some therapy occurs in the recreation pool, the smaller therapy pool is specially designed to manipulate buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure, resistance, temperature, and turbulence, based on the condition and therapy needs of the child. LifeScape’s aquatic therapy program is led by the state’s only Pediatric Aquaticist, who is also an occupational therapist and board-certified behavior analyst.
Already funded is a magnificent new school playground. This is thanks to the generosity of Harold & Helen Boer, Chip Carlson with Henry Carlson Companies, and a successful $2.1 million Sioux Falls Chamber Community Appeals drive last summer. Under an expanded Phase 2, an enclosed play area would be added, with room for wheelchair swings, a quiet sitting area for children, and a tranquil courtyard space for staff on break. The last $5 million would also create an indoor playground area at one end of the gym for children to play safely and comfortably in cold or rainy weather.
A small convenience store would provide a real-world environment for older students to use the job skills they are learning in the vocational lab at school. The store would be open to staff to purchase snacks and other small items.
The last $5 million will provide a telemedicine clinic room. Virtual care visits will decrease the travel time for clinic visits and provide quicker responses to acute medical concerns.
Now that warmer weather is coming, the building progress will accelerate. The plan is for children to move in in the fall of 2026!
We are close to completing a facility that will stand to serve the children of South Dakota and the region for the next 70 years. The LifeScape Children’s Campus is more than a building. Children for generations to come will learn, grow and heal within the walls going up today. But we are not done yet. The children still need all of us to join the Journey of Hope in raising the last $5 million to complete Phase 2. Your help today will make LifeScape’s new children’s campus a beautiful place for children to truly heal, learn, and grow.
Join us at LifeScapeJourneyOfHope.org, or call the LifeScape Foundation at 605-444-9800.
