Katie Loutsch Improving After Life Threatening Car Accident

Katie Lousch, a 2013 graduate of Milbank High School, was involved in a one-car accident near the Tea exit on I-29 on October 12. She was airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital in critical condition. Katie suffered internal head trauma, a concussion, broken ribs, fractures in her pelvis, damage to a vertebra, a lacerated spleen and and a lacerated kidney. She was immediately put on life support – a breathing tube, chest tube, and feeding tube.

Katie’s mother, Marie, says Katie is making great strides in her recovery, but a full recovery is a long way away. The tubes have been removed so she is able to communicate freely, she has graduated to a regular diet, and the staples in her head have been removed. “A lot of her day is spent in therapy, doing therapy homework, resting between therapies, going for short extra walks, and coming up with things she can work on in her room to enhance her therapy,” Marie says.

Marie, employed as the Life Safety Monitor Coordinator at Whetstone Valley Electric Cooperative, and by Grant County Visiting Neighbors, has been at Katie’s side since the accident. She says, “It’s hard to believe we have been in the hospital 20 days, but watching the transformation during this time has been truly inspirational!”

A benefit brunch will be held for Katie on Sunday, November 5, from 10 a.m. until noon at American Lutheran Church in Milbank. Everyone is welcome. All proceeds go to the Loutsch family to offset medical expenses.

Egg bakes, scrambled eggs, muffins, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee, and milk are on the menu. A free will offering is requested. During the benefit brunch, a handmade quilt will also be raffled off. Jeff Loutsch, Katie’s dad, works at Kranz Well and Excavating. His employer, Peggy Kranz is donating the quilt, according to Brenda Maass one of the benefit organizers.

“The Loutsch family has given so much to our community,” says Maass. “This is just a small way we, as a community, can give back to them. We are hoping to have a great turnout to support this great family.”

Katie graduated from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion last May, and began medical school at USD this summer. She is engaged to Nathaniel Steinlicht of Milbank. Nathaniel, also a 2013 MHS graduate and a graduate of USD, is enrolled in the master’s program for public administration at Ohio State University.

When asked what motivates her recovery, Katie said, “The well wishes, support, and prayers have meant so much to me.” Upon her release from the hospital in Sioux Falls, Katie will come home to Milbank to continue her recuperation.