The local blood drives continue to be held during COVID-19 since the need for blood is in more demand than ever. Life Serve team members only report to work if they are healthy and only healthy donors are eligible to give blood. Blood drives are essential medical services and not considered mass gatherings.
The number of donors is limited to ensure donor separation, and staff has strict cleaning and disinfection schedules. Other measures are also in place to ensure the safety of the blood supply so these lifesaving donations can continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The next local blood drive will be held Monday, December 7 from Noon to 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon.
Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care is now offering flu shots on an appointment-only basis. The Hi Dose flu vaccine is also still available. Appointments can be made by calling 563-568-5660. When the appointment is made, instructions are given for the private location the immunizations will be administered.
Those with an appointment to receive their flu shot should remain in their vehicle until the nurse comes to get them and should bring along their insurance or Medicare card.
Influenza, also called “the flu”, can cause fever, chills, headache, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches to people of any age, and can lead to pneumonia and even death. Most deaths caused by influenza occur in the elderly, the very young or people who have a compromised immune system.
Memorials were received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in memory of William ‘Bill’ Ferring by Dr. B.R. Withers, Hacker Nelson & Co, Mike and Julie Snitker, Chuck and Lois Votsmier, Dave and Laurie Martin, Karen Soper, Nancy Kruse, Lawrence and Nancy Straate, Bev Larson-Needham, Gordon and Louise Ellingson, Lillian Larson, Mary Ann Burke, Brad and Erin Berns, Darryl and Lorraine Rud, Mary Fink, Leslie and Judith Thronson, Cyril and Shirley Larkin, Don and Mary Meyer, Lyla Hanson, Brian and Denise Wullner, Ernie and Donnalee Osland, Karen Ferring and friends and family of Bill Ferring.
Emily Prestemon of Colesburg and Brad Streicher of Edgewood exchanged vows in a wedding ceremony at Zion United Church of Christ in Waukon July 11, 2020. The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Mike Jackson of Edgewood.
The bride is the daughter of Dave and Gail Prestemon of Waukon. She is the granddaughter of the late Lloyd and Delores Dehning and the late Jim and Alta Prestemon. Emily graduated from Waukon High School and Iowa State University. She is currently a Kindergarten teacher in the Edgewood-Colesburg School District in Colesburg.
Marshall and Stephanie Iverson of Lansing announce the birth of their daughter, Ruby June Iverson, born November 25, 2020 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 ozs. and measured 21 inches in length at the time of her birth. She joins siblings, Hank (7), Hazel (5) and Rosie (3).
Grandparents are Tom and Angela Weighner, Connie and Charlie Regan, and Jim Iverson and Annie Riehm. Great-grandparents are Clair and Cathy Wagner and Ruth Vine.
Meagan Lanz of Waukon announces the birth of her son, Koen Dean Adkins, born November 23, 2020 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. He weighed 9 lbs. 5 ozs. and measured 22 inches in length at the time of his birth. He joins siblings, Kaiden (11) and Savanah (9).
Grandparents are Lorry and Victor Adkins of Knoxville.
Taking care of business - and each other ... Some members of the Lansing Women in Business group recently gathered at Coffee on the River in downtown Lansing. From left: Fawn Brickman, owner of Driftless Travel; Wendi Eiden and Diana Wilson-Thompson, co-owners of Coffee on the River; Sammi Scholtes, with Mosaic; Jana Schoh, co-owner of Red Geranium Floral and Gifts; Lesya Ryzhenkova, co-owner of The Good Life Gallery and Frame Shop; Jennifer Davis, with Eastern Allamakee Community School District; and Maryann Baldwin, owner of Lansing Fitness Center. Pictured in the three inset photos at the top of the photo above are other Lansing Women in Business members who shared their thoughts on the organization and what it means to them. Left to right in those submitted inset photos are Michelle Stiehl, owner of Polished on Main; Valerie Reinke, Executive Director of Allamakee County Economic Development & Tourism; and Elissa Strobel, owner of Driftless Gypsy Boutique. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.
Group will host ‘Light Up Lansing’ Saturday, December 12 to collect food for LIFT
by Julie Berg-Raymond
On a recent evening in downtown Lansing, a forecasted snowfall had instead delivered a cold, late-autumn rain. Where Main Street meets the river, a light fog was obscuring the Black Hawk Bridge from view; and lights sparkled in the windows of a former grain elevator - home now to a coffee shop and wine bar, Coffee on the River - where, inside, several masked women were busy wrapping colorful, holiday-themed paper around large boxes that would be distributed in shops around town in the coming days.
A full week of double-digit cases of COVID-19 reported each day for Allamakee County this past week has produced the second highest weekly total of new confirmed cases for the county since the pandemic began. The 107 new cases reported during this past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, November 24 through Monday, November 30 is second - by just one case - to the highest weekly total of 108 cases reported just two weeks ago, November 10-16.
Although representing just one of the now nine months the COVID-19 pandemic has grabbed hold within the local population, the month of November, by itself, accounts for just shy of one half of the entire Allamakee County case total since those cases were first reported in March of this year. Since November 1, the State of Iowa has reported a total of 385 of the county’s now 818 total cases as of Monday, November 30.
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
December 11: CFAP 2 Signup; Dairy Margin Coverage Signup
March 15: 2021 ARCPLC Signup
Treat the Disease, Not the symptoms by LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist
We know that healthy soil is bursting with life, it is just that most of the life is at the microscopic level so we can’t readily see it. A single teaspoon of soil is estimated to include one billion microbes including bacteria, fungi, nematodes and more. All of these microbes serve a purpose in a very complex ecosystem that we cannot see.
We have heard some bad things about some of the microscopic life. The word “nematode” is considered bad. In truth the “bad” nematodes make up 5 percent of the nematodes and the rest are doing “good” things like eating bacteria and excreting plant available nitrogen because of it.
Family pride ... The Welsh family of Welsh Family Organic Farms, rural Lansing. Left to right: Clinton, Brooke, Madelyn, Kelly, Clayton, Gabrielle, Easden, Emery, Ada, Oden, Kim, Gary and Esther. Submitted photo.
Early start ... This graphic was printed on a t-shirt the Welsh family had created for Bill Welsh. The Welsh family farm was certified organic in 1988. Submitted photo.
submitted by Welsh Family Organic Farm
Welsh Family Organic Farm of rural Lansing is a 2020 Farm Bureau Federation Century Farm honoree. To qualify for this award the farm has to be in the family for 100 years. The 200-acre farm was first purchased by Gary Welsh’s great grandparents, Fred and Mary Weber, in 1920 and later sold to their son, William Weber.
William (Bill) and Esther Welsh, Gary’s parents, purchased the farm August 15, 1963. The farm was then transferred March 16, 1994 to Welsh Properties, Inc., which was owned by William and Esther Welsh. July 22, 2005, Gary and Kim Welsh purchased Welsh Properties, Inc.
