The National Cancer Institute agreed to reauthorize a multi-year grant that will allow a cancer disparity research program at Rapid City Regional to continue its work among Native Americans on three reservations in western South Dakota, hospital officials announced Thursday.

Walking Forward director Dr. Daniel Petereit, a RCRH oncologist, and other hospital staff celebrated the news with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Herseth Sandlin was in Rapid City to discuss the challenges facing health care providers in western South Dakota, including a congressional impasse over the 10.6 percent cut in physician reimbursement rates by Medicare that was slated to take effect July 1.

The success of Rapid City's five-year old Walking Forward program, which studies cancer rates in Native American populations and explores more effective screening and treatment options for them, was a prime reason the NCI recently agreed to continue funding the health disparities research grant, Herseth Sandlin said.