[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7316-S7317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNITION OF JEAN SKONHOVD, STEPHANIE BROCKHOUSE, LEANN PRUSA AND TOM 
         BERG'S ASSISTANCE DURING THE NATURAL DISASTERS OF 1997

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity 
today to recognize the important work of Sioux Valley Hospital nurses, 
Jean Skonhovd, Stephanie Brockhouse, Leann Prusa, and Tom Berg, in 
ongoing disaster recovery efforts in South Dakota.
  Early this year, residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South 
Dakota experienced relentless snowstorms and bitterly cold 
temperatures. Snowdrifts as high as buildings, roads with only one lane 
cleared, homes without heat for days, hundreds of thousands of dead 
livestock, and schools closed for a week at a time were commonplace. As 
if surviving the severe winter cold was not challenge enough, residents 
of the upper Midwest could hardly imagine the extent of damage Mother 
Nature had yet to inflict with a 500-year flood. Record levels on the 
Big Sioux River and Lake Kampeska forced over 5,000 residents of 
Watertown, SD to evacuate their homes and left over one-third of the 
city without sewer and water for three weeks. The city of Bruce, SD was 
completely underwater when record low temperatures turned swollen 
streams into sheets of ice.
  The 50,000 residents of Grand Forks, ND, and 10,000 residents of East 
Grand Forks, MN, were forced to leave their homes and businesses as the 
Red River overwhelmed their cities in April. The devastation was 
astounding; an entire city underwater and a fire that gutted a majority 
of Grand Forks' downtown. Residents of both cities recently were 
allowed to return to what is left of their homes, and the long and 
difficult process of rebuilding shattered lives is just beginning.
  In the midst of this crisis, Jean Skonhovd, Stephanie Brockhouse, 
Leann Prusa, and Tom Berg scrambled to travel to Grand Forks and help 
the victims of the disaster. Not thinking of themselves, these nurses 
from Sioux Valley Hospital rearranged their personal lives to volunteer 
their expertise to assist others. Their skill and professionalism shone 
through as they admirably performed their jobs in chaotic 
circumstances. Their ability to perform emergency services in these 
trying times deserves our respect and admiration.
  While those of us from the Midwest will never forget the destruction 
wrought by this year's snowstorms and floods, I have been heartened to 
witness first-hand and hear accounts of South Dakotans coming together 
within their community to protect homes, farms, and entire towns from 
vicious winter weather and rising flood waters. The selfless actions of 
these nurses from Sioux Valley Hospital illustrate the resolve within 
South Dakotans to help our neighbors in times of trouble.
  Mr. President, there is much more to be done to rebuild and repair 
our impacted communities. Jean Skonhovd, Stephanie Brockhouse, Leann 
Prusa, and Tom Berg of Sioux Valley Hospital illustrate how the actions 
of a community can bring some relief to the victims of this natural 
disaster, and I ask

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you to join me in thanking them for their selfless efforts.

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