Former Lt. Gov. Carole Hillard of Rapid City, who broke her neck in a boating accident last week in Europe, is now out of the hospital and on her way to Switzerland, where she plans to rest for a couple of days before heading home.

Hillard was in a small sailboat on the Adriatic Sea early last week when she fell down some stairs, breaking the "C-2" vertebra in her neck. She was transported to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where she underwent surgery.

Although her neck pain has decreased, Hillard felt increasing pain in her ribs, and doctors discovered that she had also suffered three broken ribs in the accident, according to her son, David Hillard of Rapid City.

Carole Hillard was released from the hospital in Zagreb on Wednesday and was taking a flight to Switzerland, where she planned to stay until flying back to Rapid City on Sunday or Monday, her son said Thursday.

Hillard is accompanied by friends from Rapid City.

Her son said Hillard likely won't be hospitalized when she returns home, but he said she would likely have an MRI to check out the surgery she had in Zagreb. Hillard said it appears the surgery was done flawlessly.

Although there were concerns initially that Hillard could suffer paralysis, she has full movement, her son said.

"Everything looks like it is progressing like we would have hoped," he said. "It will be good to have her home."

Family members here still don't know what caused the accident on the sailboat, although they said it was under way in the Adriatic Sea when Hillard fell.

Before traveling to the Adriatic, Hillard had been in Turkmenistan to put on a conference on federalism, family members said.

Hillard, 71, served as South Dakota's first female lieutenant governor from 1995-2003. She had also served in the South Dakota Legislature and the Rapid City Council.

In recent years, she had become an international consultant, traveling on behalf of the U.S. State Department as well as nongovernmental organizations. She had completed assignments to more than 60 developing countries, including Mongolia, Cambodia, Nigeria, Somalia, East Timor and Pakistan, according to a web site on the 59th Annual Conference on World Affairs held at the University of Colorado at Boulder last April. Hillard participated in the conference.

She also supervised the January 2007 elections in the West Bank. In March, Hillard traveled to Afghanistan to assist in creating small business in the city of Kabul.

David Hillard said he didn't know whether his mother's accident and her recovery will slow down her travels. "That will be up to her," he said.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com