About On Call
On Call is a live, one-hour television program produced by South Dakota State University’s AgBio Communications Unit and broadcast statewide on South Dakota Public Television. On Call seeks to provide accurate and unbiased medical information directly to viewers by answering their questions about specific medical topics. Each week, producer and host Tami Watson and medical editor Dr. Rick Holm discuss a broad range of health care topics with medical experts from across South Dakota.
Through a combination of dynamic studio discussions, thoughtful news reporting, and the reflective insights of healthcare professionals, On Call clearly explains issues of disease, treatment, medical ethics, and health care policies. On Call airs on South Dakota Public Broadcasting-Television at 7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, on Thursday evenings. Recent episodes of On Call are archived and available for viewing online.
On Call is the only medical program endorsed by the South Dakota State Medical Association and the South Dakota Department of Health. On Call is made possible by major sponsors Avera Health and the South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care. Other sponsors include Brookings Health System, DakotaCare, Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota, South Dakota American College of Physicians and Swiftel Communications.
The Brookings Health System, Fishback Financial Corporation, and the Larson Foundation provide closed captioning for “On Call.”
Dr. Rick Holm graduated from the University of South Dakota, attended the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, and completed his med school training at Emory in Atlanta, Ga. He specialized in internal medicine and became a faculty member at Emory/Grady Hospital before coming back home to the prairie to Brookings, S.D. In addition to practicing full time at the Avera Brookings Medical Clinic since 1981, Rick mentors students and lectures as professor of medicine at the Sanford USD School of Medicine.
Presently, Dr. Holm is chief of staff of the Brookings (Hospital) Health System; chair of ethics, CME, ER, home health, and hospice committees; medical director of the Golden Living Center (nursing home) of Arlington, S.D.; chair of the South Dakota Medical Association’s Committee on Ethics and Judicial Affairs; past president of the South Dakota Medical Association (2001-02); and governor-elect for the South Dakota chapter of the American College of Physicians.
Tami Watson graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in broadcast journalism and continued her education at the University of South Dakota, graduating with a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of South Dakota Department of Political Science. Tami has produced and hosted several public television programs, and has an extensive history of reporting on public affairs, political issues, and health care topics in South Dakota.
SDPB Television stations
- Channel 2, Vermillion
- Channel 4, Spearfish
- Channel 6, Pine Ridge
- Channel 7, Aberdeen
- Channel 8, Brookings
- Channel 8, Martin
- Channel 9, Mitchell
- Channel 9, Rapid City
- Channel 10, Pierre
- Channel 11, Lowry
- Channel 13, Eagle Butte
- Channel 13, Wasta
- Channel 16, Aberdeen
- Channel 19, Belle Fourche
- Channel 23, Sioux Falls
- DTV-Channel 26, Rapid City
- Channel 55, Pringle/Custer
- Channel 55, Wagner/Lake Andes
- Channel 64, Edgemont
