We had a long drive ahead of us and had no idea how
long our day would be... but we were ready for the adventure! This trip would
be another long day, 237.9 miles from Sioux Falls, SD to Bloomington, MN.
So I picked up breakfast at the restaurant next door to our hotel called Roll N
Pin, it was decorated with…. You guessed it…. Rolling Pins!! Very cute inside
with delicious food.
The first stop on our trip was most important, we met with the Media communications rep from Avera Cancer Institute. Avera, has numerous locations throughout South Dakota, aside from being a Catholic based non profit hospital their focus is on helping those in their community no matter what type of insurance they have, whether they're being treated there or not.... they help anyone who comes through their doors. Even prisoners from the local prisons (which we witnessed one coming in, while we were there!)
Avera has a very welcoming feeling, the outside is designed to look similar to a prairie, with etched like glass and sculptures outside. The inside of Avera is decorated with art from local residents, all forms of art work, inspirational words on the walls, small amazonite semi precious stones (meant to be healing) with HOPE on them are mixed into the flooring throughout the hospital, a serene garden area surrounds the eatery and small waterfall like designs are found inside the hospital. There's so much zen in this place with a meditation center, an outpatient chaplain and so much HOPE.
Avera Cancer Institute Entrance
Our awesome tour guide Jay G, Doryn & I
The Inspirational words on the wall
More Inspiration
In the Patient Navigator office, you're always greeted with a smile!
Laurie Shared all about what Makes Avera Different!
The AVERA Difference - What they offer
They also have an Internal Medicine office, they believe in options!
As we were guided around the center, we Met Laurie, who runs the Patient Navigation center and 2 of their patient navigators: Rita and Jordan. The best part about this team was their dedication to what they did. This amazing team of navigators remind me of why what I do is so important and how we are all making a HUGE Impact in their patient’s lives.
Rita, a Patient Navigator speaks about what brought her to Avera
Jordan, the other fabulous Navigator talks about why she loves her job
One of the many pieces of art around Avera
We were lucky enough to meets 2 couples on our visit, both of the couples each of them had cancer - the husbands and the wives, As we listened to their stories, which you will hear later, they were all fortunate enough to have the help and financial support for what they needed - their insurance. The first couple mentioned their stress with paying for gas to get the 140 mile round trip 3-5 days per week and the food to eat out on those days. The other couple mentioned how thankful they were to have the support they had, because had they not... they could have lost their home and not been able to survive at all, let alone pay for the cancer drugs. Their stories were amazing and we were beyond thankful to meet them, hear their stories and share them with you at the end of this trip!
One of the fabulous survivors we met who beat Ovarian Cancer and her hubby is currently fighting Lymphoma
A current fighter of Breast Cancer who was supporting her hubby through Prostate Cancer
After Avera, we continued on the road to Bloomington, MN.
Once we checked into our hotel, we rested for a bit and then got ready to visit
the mall of America in Bloomington. We decided since we drove so much that we’d
let someone else do the driving for a change and we ordered an Uber and rode
with a woman named Erin and an Uber back with a guy names Kelly. They were both
awesome drivers and it was for sure a GREAT way to get around!
Mall of America's Own Lego Land
Yes there's an amusement park
Roller Coasters Galore!
We made friends with Crayola Crayons
Doryn always makes new friends!
Now if you’ve never been to the Mall of America, it’s
definitely something to check out at least once in your life! It’s 4 stories
(the fourth is mainly food), filled with every store you could think of
including huge stores like Marshalls, Best Buy and Sears. The Mall is also home
to a Nickelodeon theme park full of rides including a Ferris wheel, roller
coasters and those huge swings. They even had a theater, an aquarium and a
humongous Lego display with gigantic Lego Sculptures. I really think Doryn and
I felt like kids. But I can admit that after walking around on all 3 floors in
3 hours that we were EXHAUSTED! I think if I lived in the area, I wouldn’t go
there all the time. It’s a lot with a lot of parking! On the way there and back with our awesome
Uber drivers, we did see America’s Water Park, that was indoor, and you could
see it by the freeway. We headed back to the hotel and get to bed. Talk about
an exciting day!!
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