Ruth Bales started with Wapiti Medical as an Operations Manager in February 2023. Ruth was born and raised in Huron SD and lives in Huron with her husband Curtis and her 3 boys Jack, Jace and Jett. In her free time, you will catch her following her boys in sports (Hockey and Golf) and enjoying time with friends and family camping, traveling, and going to concerts and golfing in the summers.

Katie joined Wapiti in October 2022 as the Manager of Accounting and Finance. Katie and her husband, Justin, have three children. Both Katie and her husband were raised in Milbank and decided to relocate back to the area in 2016. Katie has extensive knowledge of accounting. In her free time, she enjoys spending hanging out with family, watching her children play sports, and enjoying the outdoors.

Chyan Blythe has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since October of 2019, starting as a sourcing specialist supporting our recruiting team and now serving as a recruiter.

Chyan and her husband have two boys and two girls born in 2010 and 2011, and 2013 and 2016 respectively. As a family, they enjoy road trips, movies, and exploring the many parks in the area.

Kari Abraham-Hoffmann has been with Wapiti since May of 2018 serving in the IT Coordinator role. 

Kari and her husband, Brent, have two young daughters that are either making them feel young or old depending on the day. Outside of work, Kari enjoys spending time with family and friends.  If given the opportunity, you will find her outdoors fishing, walking, running, hunting, or just enjoying some sunshine. One day she hopes to be able to add reading books of her choice back into her hobbies. For now, Little Blue Truck, Fancy Nancy, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and other children’s books will have to do.

Ben joined the Wapiti team in April 2023 as an Account Manager. Ben enjoys going fishing in his free time. Ben has three adult children and seven grandchildren. Ben brings with him over 30 years of experience in the retail world and most recently worked as a recruiter for a company in Illinois.

Kim has been with Wapiti since March 2012 when her company, Siouxland Staffing Services, merged with Wapiti. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, with previous roles as Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Allied Health. Kim has been responsible for staffing, developing, and maintaining current business in all of Wapiti’s regions.

Kim is a physician assistant by trade and although she rarely pulls a shift, she continues to teach ACLS, BLS, and PALS and assists with clinician development. She holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in Zoology from South Dakota State University and one in Physician Assistant Studies from University of South Dakota. Her passion is connecting the science of business with the art of medicine to ensure that patients are well taken care of wherever Wapiti serves. In her spare time, Kim enjoys spending time with family at the lake, reading and running.

Presley joined Wapiti in September 2021 as an Operations Manager. Prior to that, she was a Home Health Manager and Certified Wound Care Nurse. Presley has a BSN from Augustana University and a MHA from Oklahoma State University.

Presley and her husband, Adam, have one daughter, Lainey, and a golden retriever, Marvin. In her spare time, Presley enjoys the outdoors, sports, and spending time with family.

Erin Eccles joined Wapiti Medical Staffing in October 2021. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurial Studies and a Marketing minor from South Dakota State University. 

Erin and her husband, Justin, have two children. She enjoys spending her time cooking & baking, working on home renovations, being outside with her family, and watching the Minnesota Vikings. 

Denise Samson joined Wapiti Medical Staffing in the Accounting Department in December 2017.

Denise and her husband Dwight have two grown children and three grandchildren. They love spending time with their family and friends, and enjoy being in the great outdoors boating, fishing, gardening, or just relaxing by the lake. They both grew up in Iowa and are avid fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Marti Joined Wapiti in April of 2022 as an Operations Manager. She has 30 years’ experience working in healthcare, spending most of her time in health care administration with Avera Medical Group Marshall as a Clinic Manager.

Marti and her husband, Troy, have 2 grown boys, and one grandchild. She likes to spend time crafting and spending time with family and friends.

Stephanie joined Wapiti Medical in December 2022. Stephanie enjoys doing anything outdoors. She likes to hunt, fish, garden, and play with her dogs. Anything that involves coffee, count her in! Stephanie resides with her fiance outside of Milbank. Stephanie is originally from Clinton, MN, and used to work in direct healthcare.

Alexis Brown joined Wapiti Medical in September 2022 as an Account Manager. Alexis has a background in working with families in the Child Protection Services Division.

Alexis’s hobbies including spending time with her 2 dogs, her cat and enjoys reading and listening to true crime podcasts.

Krista Cronin has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since July 2015. Krista serves as a credentialing specialist in our Huron office working with critical access hospitals in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota.

Krista and her husband, Scott, live on the family farm with their son and daughter. Krista enjoys spending time at the lake with her extended family and being outdoors with her farm animals.

Carrie Arbeiter has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since March 2012 when Wapiti merged with Siouxland Staffing. Prior to that, she was with Siouxland Staffing beginning in 2011. Carrie serves as Manager of Human Resources for Wapiti Medical Staffing.

Carrie and her husband have a daughter born in Aug 2017 and a son born in April 2019. They enjoy camping, fishing, and traveling.

Nola started with Wapiti in February 2023 as a Credentialing Specialist. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, camping and spending time with her family. Nola is originally from Portland Oregon and has had many years in the customer service industry.

Jessica joined Wapiti Medical Staffing as a Human Resources Generalist in August 2022.  She comes from 10+ years in the banking industry.

Jessica and her husband, Scott, have 1 son and 3 daughters. She loves to travel, whether chasing the kids around the state to athletic competitions or just getting away. She also loves decorating and crafting. 

Alisha joined Wapiti as an Account Manager in September of 2021 when she moved to Milbank, South Dakota from Minnesota. With a range of experience in the legal and business world, Alisha is accomplished in providing administrative and managerial support to her teams.

In her spare time, Alisha enjoys the outdoors and spending time with her kids, family, and friends.

Jen joined Wapiti in January of 2018. Prior to joining our team, she spent 20 years with Avera McKennan Hospital and Avera Medical Group, with previous role as Director of Clinic & Ancillary Services. Jen has a wealth of experience with administrative and operations functions of healthcare spanning across multiple aspects of a healthcare facility – multispecialty clinic practice, CRNA practice, ancillary services, ER coverage, facility business office functions, quality measures, EMR implementation, and new facility construction. Her overarching roles focused on serving patients in Critical Access Hospitals and Clinics.

Jen and her husband together have 5 grown children and are supporters of each in their future path to serve the Midwest in construction, agriculture, and healthcare. They enjoy spending time together at the lake near their home on a warm summer day, working outside on their acreage, traveling and motorcycle riding. Over the past 20 years, Jen’s passion has resided in rural medicine and maintains one goal, to make a difference in the lives of others.

Matt Flikka joined the Wapiti team in July 2019. He recruits for North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming.

Matt moved to South Dakota in March of 2018 and lives with his amazing son, Beckett. Beckett loves all sports, animals, and family. He has character that goes on for days and can already make anyone laugh. In their spare time, they like participating or watching any sport they possibly can (especially football or hockey), relaxing on the lake, coaching hockey, or just spending time together.

Kathy has been with Wapiti since April 2014.  She works as an accountant and is based out of our Milbank office.

Kathy and her husband Darren have three grown children and seven grandchildren.  She enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching grandchildren in their sporting events, going for walks, and reading.

Nicole Hanson joined Wapiti in July 2019. She has 12 years of customer service and sales experience.

Nicole and her husband (Duane) have lived in the Milbank area for 18 years with their 2 boys. Nicole enjoys gardening and spending time with family, especially with her grandson.

Brittney Pauli has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since December 2013. She serves as the Director of Budget and Finance.

Brittney and her husband, Adam, have three children. Brittney enjoys running, relaxing at the pool or lake with her family, and all the activities her kids are involved in.

Kayla joined Wapiti Medical Staffing as Operations Manager in December 2019.

Kayla and her husband, Steve, have two daughters.  When she’s not busy chasing her girls to their activities she enjoys anything to do with fitness, home renovations, and is actively involved in the Children’s Ministry team at her church.

Annavel Kelly has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since December 2017. Prior to that, she was a Training Coordinator in customer service beginning in 2009. Annavel serves as Account Manager/Scheduler at Wapiti Medical Staffing.

Annavel and her husband Chris have four kids who keep them very busy. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and spending time at the lake.

As a credentialing specialist in the Iowa region, Christy Pullin works with practitioners and hospital staff to ensure credentials are in place for current/new physician hires at Wapiti partner facilities.

Christy has three adult children and five grandchildren, and she loves giving her grandchildren sugar highs before sending them home.  She loves spending time with her family traveling and playing games.  She is a new puppy mom and working with her Shih Tzu, Gizmo, on potty training and bad chewing habits.

Lisa joined Wapiti Medical Staffing as a Recruiter in February 2022. Prior to coming to Wapiti, Lisa spent over 21 years in Retail Pharmacy in multiple roles including Manager, CPhT and Compliance Officer. Some of her accolades include Diabetic Lifestyle Coach, Orthotic Shoe Fitter and ACHC Accreditation Specialist. Lisa was also the recipient of Pharmacy Technician of the Year Award by the South Dakota Board of Pharmacy.

Lisa is a mother of two adult children, Eric and Brooke, whom she is incredibly proud of. In her spare time, she enjoys DIY projects, drawing and painting, traveling both domestically and internationally, cooking, gardening and experiencing new adventures so she can continue to check things off her bucket list.

Kirsten has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since May 2022. She currently works as a sourcing specialist supporting our recruiting department. Kirsten graduated from Alexandria Tech & Community College with a degree in Medical Coding.

Kirsten and her husband Nathan have three daughters. In her spare time she enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, disc golfing, and spending time with her kids and family. In addition, Kirsten loves going to Sioux Falls Stampede hockey games anytime she gets a chance as well as watching the Dallas Cowboys.

Jody has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since 2013. As the logistics coordinator, she works closely with our medical providers who need to travel to their work locations.

Jody says she feels privileged to have the opportunity to work with talented co-workers and medical providers who treat each other like family.

Jodi started with Wapiti in October 2022 as an Account Manager. Jodi’s hobby is her horses. She has a ranch where she raises and sells a few babies every year. She enjoys trail riding and camping. Jodi and her husband have five children. Jodi’s background is in retail and banking.

Morgan has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since January 2018, first as a sourcing specialist for recruiting before moving to her current role in the credentialing department. Morgan has 8 years experience working within the medical field. She has an Associate’s Degree in Physical Therapy Assisting, which she obtained while attending Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown SD.

Morgan and her husband, Alex, have two boys with a third child on the way due in August 2022. Together, they love going camping, attending concerts, taking road trips, exploring the outdoors and spending time with their continuously growing families.

Renea joined Wapiti Medical Staffing in July 2022 and currently serves as Business Development Manager. She is  a licensed Property, Casualty & Life, Health Insurance Producer with almost 20 years experience.

Renea has been married to her husband Wade for 28 year and together they have 4 children and 13 grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, camping, and traveling.  Her favorite place she has ever visited would be hands down Jamaica. The second most favorite place to visit is her pool in the back yard.

Tonya has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since July 2012 and works out of the Milbank office. She started her role with Wapiti as an account manager and now serves as a credentialing specialist. Tonya works with physicians to ensure credentials are in place to help serve rural critical access hospitals that are partnered with Wapiti in the Iowa Region.

Outside of work Tonya enjoys spending time with her family, camping, gardening and horseback riding.

Sarah joined Wapiti Medical in November 2022 as an Account Manager and works from our Huron office. Sarah enjoys camping in her free time and has three daughters. Her oldest loves cheerleading, her middle daughter loves animals and her youngest is a social butterfly. Sarah has a history in the healthcare industry as she was a medical coder for most of her work experience.

Amy started with Wapiti in April 2023 as an Account Manager. Amy enjoys the sunshine and outdoors. She loves to go camping, fishing and ATV riding. Amy was raised in South Dakota and has 2 sons and 2 dogs and shares her life with her boyfriend of 13 years. Amy brings with her many years in the production industry.

Julie joined Wapiti in March 2017. She has worked in health care her entire career. Julie has been a medical transcriptionist and a medical coder. Recently, she earned her Registered Health Information Technique (RHIT) degree and worked as the HIMS director at a nearby hospital (Appleton Area Health System). It was there that she discovered credentialing.

Julie has many interests but mostly enjoys riding horses, gardening, and hanging out with her two grandkids, her family, and her friends

Savannah joined Wapiti in July 2022 and currently works as a recruiter out of our Huron office.

Savannah and her wife moved from San Diego, CA to Huron, SD in October of 2021. Although it’s been a huge change, she’s learning to love the small-town living. When she isn’t working, Savannah loves adventuring to new parts of the state. Her hobbies include playing piano, reading a great book, and spoiling her sphynx senseless.

Kylie has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since 2022 and supports our Recruiting team as a sourcing specialist. 

Kylie and her husband Jorge have one child together. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, camping and any other outdoor activity than can do together.

Jatelyn Paulson has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since May 2015. Jatelyn serves as an account manager for the Huron office. She joined Wapiti after graduating college from Northern State University.

Jatelyn and her husband Eric have 2 sets of twins who keep them very busy! Jatelyn enjoys being with her family and friends, attending/watching sporting events and going to the lake!

Rod Joined Wapiti in May 2023.

He is an avid Nebraska Cornhusker and USD Yotes fan. His hobbies include mowing lawns, landscaping, and tinkering on small engines. He has 2 adult children. His son Andrew lives in Littleton, CO and his Daughter Allison lives in Huron, SD.  Rod was raised in Winner, SD. Rod brings with him many years of experience in the human services field.

Meghan Schultz joined Wapiti in July 2022. She has 10 years of experience in the medical field specializing in patient and provider relations.

Meghan and her husband Joseph moved to Huron along with their daughter Ruby from Buffalo, NY. As a family they enjoys spending time doing activities together, going to the movies, crafts, going on road trips and quiet nights at home.

Lisa has been with Wapiti since October 2021. She has prior healthcare-related experience conducting provider enrollments with insurance carriers and provider re-appointments.   

Lisa and her husband Scott have 3 grown children and a Shitzu name Mr. Snickers. She is always ready for an adventure that leads to traveling, trying new things, and meeting people. Lisa believes what is most important is spending time with family and friends.

Sadie Stahl joined Wapiti Medical in September 2022. Sadie has a background in working with families in the Child Protection Services Division.

Sadie’s hobbies include cooking for friends and family, reading, writing, and watching Grey’s Anatomy.

Addie Whelan joined Wapiti Medical Staffing as a Recruiter in August 2022.

Addie enjoys spending time with her boyfriend and two dogs as well as doing activities such as riding her motorcycle, working out, and anything to do with water.

Ashley Trapp joined Wapiti Medical Staffing in February 2022, first as a Recruiter and now in her current role of Administrative Assistant. She holds an Associate’s degree in Entrepreneurial Studies from Lake Area Technical College. She is a licensed Property and Casualty insurance producer with five years of customer service and sales experience.

Ashley enjoys spending time with her husband, Jeffrey, and their family and friends, being outside and going for long walks in the summer. She takes pride in enjoying a good cup of coffee.

Jordyn Zwanziger joined Wapiti Medical in September 2022 as a Recruiter. She has a background in working with families in the Child Protection Services Division.

Jordyn is married and has 2 children and enjoys reading, cross stitching, and quilting in her spare time.

Nichole has been with Wapiti since January 2018 when Wapiti acquired Emergency Practice Associates (EPA). Prior to that, she was with EPA beginning in January 2015. Nicole has previous experience working at Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls for 12 years as a respiratory therapist and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Upper Iowa University.

Nicole enjoys working in staffing and helping providers achieve a schedule that fits their needs. In her free time, she loves spending time with her husband Nick and kids Aiden and Olivia.

Mary Tuttle has been with Wapiti Medical Staffing since August 2022.  Mary serves as an Account Manager.  She joined Wapiti with a background as an LPN for 7 years.

Mary has 3 children and enjoys listening to music and spending time with family. 

Kari Van Luvan joined Wapiti in 2022. She works out of our Huron office as an Account Manager.

Kari has one adult son who loves anything and everything to do with cars and trucks and one spoiled rotten diva dog, also known as an American Bully, named Mia Gene.  In her downtime, Kari loves to bake, read, and spend time with family and friends who are like family. 

Shawn joined Wapiti Medical Staffing in January of 2023. He serves as Marketing and Communications Manager. Shawn and his wife Taunya have four kids. He has 30 years of broadcasting experience and most recently served as Executive Director of a hospital foundation. Shawn enjoys camping and fishing.