10/06/2026
The Community Support Providers of South Dakota have hosted a Simply the Best conference for 38 years to honor our Direct Support Professionals who are the backbone of our industry. Annually, each agency nominates a recipient of the Excellence in Service Award. While all of our DSPs are award winners in our eyes, each agency has the difficult task of narrowing down the Excellence in Service Award to just one of their outstanding employees. This award is given to an employee who has been employed in the field of developmental disabilities for at least one year, has demonstrated an outstanding record, goes above and beyond minimum job requirements, contributes to the overall quality of life for people served, has gained the respect of both people served and co-workers, and has been selected by their agency as deserving of this award.
Live,Inc. is proud of all our DSPs dedicated services and supports to adults with disabilities in our community. They are the people who “get it”; the people with the “right stuff”. They represent the many DSPs who make a difference every day in the lives of people with disabilities.
This year's winner Mikayla Harsche traveled to Mitchell SD on October 1st to be honored with other Direct Support Professionals across the state of South Dakota. Here are some of the great things said about Mikayla in her nomination form:
Mikayla is passionate about her job and the people she supports. Recently one of the residents that Mikayla supported at West House became ill and needed to be in the hospital. Mikayla came in on her day off and spent time with him to ensure he would not be alone in his final hours. She also took time on her day off to attend his funeral in another town. She truly loves the people in her care. Mikayla is a Direct Support Professional that notices when things aren’t done or when things need to be taken care of. Live, Inc. can depend on Mikayla to ensure things are running smooth on shift.
Mikayla shows a lot of care and concern for all of our individuals, and in my opinion is one of the best people to work with, always making sure things are done and on track, as well as being fun to joke around with. She does honestly care about people from such a deep, caring part of herself that she will probably never admit she actually has, but a lot of us here at West see it almost every day.
Mikayla has a kind heart and truly cares about the people we support. She goes above and beyond to ensure their safety and wellbeing. She has even volunteered her own time to spend overnights in a hospital just to ensure the final days for a person she supported were filled with a familiar face. That’s just the person she is. Mikayla is one of those staff that can always be relied on to take on extra projects such as out-of-town trips or whatever may come up. She can be given the task and there are no worries about things being done correctly, timely and beyond expectations. She does not need anyone to “hold her hand” when it comes to making the arrangements or ensuring everything gets done right. These are just a couple of reasons why Mikayla is deserving of this award. There are many, many more reasons that Mikayla is “Simply the Best”, but they are too numerous to mention. Congratulations Mikayla!
