Dr. ​Richard Holm, raised in De Smet, S.D., was an internal medicine physician who believed that in this world of marketing and misinformation, it is important to offer science-based truth about health care.

​For twenty years, Holm in his role as the Prairie Doc®, emerged as a leader of health care education and communication in the region and the U.S. He worked tirelessly to persuade medical providers to volunteer many hours in support of the mission providing accurate healthcare information free to the public; especially to people who often have limited access to healthcare professionals. To support and continue this mission, Holm and his life partner Joanie established Healing Words Foundation as a 501c3 in 2011.
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​Here is Dr. Rick Holm discussing his initial attempts at providing medical information free to the public. Over time, his programs evolved into Prairie Doc® Radio, On Call with the Prairie Doc® and Prairie Doc® Perspectives. ​

Prairie Doc Programming

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On Call with the Prairie Doc® is a one-hour live medical Q&A program aired most Thursdays at 7pm central on South Dakota Public Television and streamed on our Prairie Doc® Facebook page as well as Youtube. Prairie Doc® hosts and various guests discuss medical issues and answer questions from viewers. Recordings of the show are available at your convenience on the Prairie Doc® YouTube channel and you can find Prairie Doc® On Call wherever you get your podcasts. 

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​Prairie Doc® Radio is an hour long show on SDPB, airing Sunday's at 6am and 1pm.  Host Laura Ellsworth, and her Prairie Doc® guests offer medical information and answer listener questions about health and wellness topics. The program is also available wherever you get your podcasts. 

Prairie Doc® Perspectives are short essays written by the Prairie Docs® and published as columns in newspapers in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, and Illinois. ​

Hopeful Spirit Chorale, founded by the late Dr. Richard Holm, is a group of volunteers dedicated to singing to people in need of cheer. Don Norton serves as coordinator for the group based in Brookings, S.D. The Hopeful Spirit Chorale takes their music wherever they are needed. They sing for people in nursing homes or hospice patients in private homes. Their music is for those who are dying as well as for people who are well physically, but their spirit is a little sad. 

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Prairie Doc Student Involvement 

Healing Words Foundation values student involvement and tries to involve students in as many aspects of our foundation's activities as possible. The television show provides an excellent opportunity for a variety of students to learn outside the classroom.

Experiential Learning with the SDSU Journalism Department
On Call with the Prairie Doc® works with a variety of SDSU students in the production of our show. Many of the people in the production crew are journalism students who assist with running the cameras and sound equipment. 

Prairie Doc® Assistantship
A professional development program for SDSU undergraduates interested in medical careers
This is a group of pre-med and pre-PA students who volunteer their time each week to answer the viewers’ calls during On Call with the Prairie Doc®.  Before each show, the students  meet with the guest physicians and have a chance to ask questions about the various medical sub-specialties.