Successful 2018 Community Campaign; 2019 Campaign underway for new anesthesia machine


Fall annual campaign appeal ... Funds raised from the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Foundation’s successful 2018 fall annual appeal campaign allowed for the purchase of a new chassis so an existing ambulance box could be mounted onto this new and needed engine and running gear. Pictured above is VMH’s completed ambulance that was the result of this fundraising effort. In November 2019, the hospital’s Foundation again sent out annual campaign direct mail to the area communities served by the hospital. The funds raised in this annual campaign will be used to help purchase a new anesthesia machine for the Surgery Department at VMH. Donations are currently being accepted by the VMH Health Care Foundation for this new anesthesia machine. Submitted photo.

Thanks to the numerous responses to the 2018 community campaign, Veterans Memorial Hospital again has three ambulances ready for emergency calls and transfers. Last year, donations were accepted to fund the purchase of a new chassis so an existing ambulance box could be mounted onto this new, needed engine and running gear. With the help of the donations received from the 2018 fall annual appeal mailing, the Rural Ambulance Board and the City of Waukon, this became a reality in mid-2019.

Due to high demand, Veterans Memorial Hospital was in great need of replacing one of its three ambulances. The Ambulance Service is a paramedic provisional service, meaning they can provide advanced medical skills for critical calls in addition to covering the basic calls in this service area. The ambulance service intercepts other EMS services in northeast Iowa to assist them by adding advanced skills to the interventions they already have in place with the goal of providing the best care possible to patients. On occasion, they help cover other Allamakee County EMS services when they don’t have enough emergency responders in town. During the year, the ambulance service also handles hundreds of transfers for patients who are critically ill, mentally ill, or need resources more specialized than what can be provided locally.

This fall, in November 2019, the hospital’s Foundation again sent out the annual direct mail campaign to the area communities served by the hospital.  The funds raised in this annual campaign will be used to help purchase a new anesthesia machine for the Surgery Department at Veterans Memorial Hospital. 

Veterans Memorial Hospital Surgery Services offers a variety of general surgeries such as colonoscopies, EGD, hernia repair, gallbladder removal and c-sections, to name a few. Plus specialties such as orthopedic surgery, podiatry, ophthalmology (cataract) and now bone marrow concentrate injections are performed regularly in the hospital Operating Room. Every one of these procedures requires the use of a state-of-the-art anesthesia machine. This needed machine is used by the highly experienced Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists on the hospital’s Surgery team.

Donations are currently being accepted by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation for this new anesthesia machine. The Veterans Memorial Hospital Health Care Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization that supports the hospital and other health care related needs in northeast Iowa. All gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible. Anyone with any questions about the campaign or Foundation is invited to call the hospital at 563-568-3411.