Health

March is National Nutrition Month®. Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Community and Home Care - Allamakee Public Health and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) are working together to share that making nutritional food choices extends the health of Iowa families along with their ability to thrive.

It is important to continue to provide education around healthy food and eating practices about the importance of nutritional eating. Consuming foods from all food groups daily keeps families fueled for activities throughout the day.

It’s also important to drink water to maintain hydration.

The demand for blood is very high. You can help. The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, April 6, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. 

Each March, the Academy’s National Nutrition Month® (NNM®) campaign brings people together to celebrate how informed food choices and healthy habits can fuel better living. The 2026 theme, “Discover the Power of Nutrition,” highlights the everyday impact nutrition has on helping individuals and communities thrive.

Week 4 Focus: Feel Good with Healthy Habits
Healthy habits help you feel your best every day. Small, intentional choices can reduce stress, protect your health, and keep you feeling energized.
• Learn about the 4 steps to food safety (clean, separate, cook, and chill) to reduce the risk of foodborne illness
• Plan meals ahead of time to help decrease mealtime stress and to decrease the tendency to reach for highly processed foods
• Include physical activity in ways that fit your schedule and lifestyle

During this Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, you may hear about the different ways to prevent the disease, and besides getting screened annually beginning at age 45, eating a diet rich in fiber is a helpful step.

But fiber isn’t just good for your colon; it’s a nutrient that’s beneficial to your overall health. However, most people in the United States aren’t consuming enough fiber each day – to the tune of more than 90 percent of women and 97 percent of men. That’s a concerning statistic, considering everything fiber can do for the body.

“Fiber has all sorts of benefits for your health,” says Halley Molstad, a registered dietician with Emplify Health by Gundersen. “It can help to lower cholesterol, it can help with good digestion, it can help with blood sugar management, so there are all sorts of reasons to add more fiber to your diet.”

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) and Clinics held its “Golden Sledgehammer” event for the Postville Clinic Thursday, March 12, marking the official start of construction on the clinic.  About 25 people attended the celebration, including donors, representatives of local businesses, members of the hospital’s Board of Directors and Healthcare Foundation, hospital/clinic employees, along with the project’s contractor and architect.

The short program included a welcome by Michael Coyle, CEO of VMH.  He thanked Dr. McMullan for starting the Postville Medical Clinic and working to make the transition to VMH a smooth one. Also in attendance was Diana Johnson, Assistant Director of Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, who was recognized for the organization’s role in selling the building to VMH to allow the clinic expansion. Coyle also thanked the community members whose support helped make the project possible. 

The new Behavioral Health Nurse Practitioners Janet Hunter, PMHNP, and Angela Taylor, PMHNP, joined Tara Fink, PMHNP, last fall in expanding behavioral health care services in northeast Iowa. Both Janet and Angela have many years of nursing experience and have seen the great need for behavioral health care during their careers, which is why they both went back to school to earn their nurse practitioner degrees in behavioral health care. 

Both of these new providers now have nearly six months of caring for behavioral health patients in northeast Iowa and continue to rapidly build their practices.

Angela Taylor, PMHNP, spent nearly the last 25 years as a nurse at the Regional Medical Center in Manchester working in a variety of roles. She chose to become a PMHNP to provide a positive impact and improve the quality of life for individuals in the community. 

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week was recognized last week, March 8-14 at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH). Local Pulmonary Rehabilitation teaches a person to live and breathe better with chronic lung disease. Participation in a pulmonary rehab program can help increase strength, manage shortness of breath, decrease anxiety and depression and implement a consistent at-home exercise program.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) will sponsor the next Babysitting Seminar Friday, April 3, from 9 am to Noon. Corinne Cook, RN, will be leading this class which will be held in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of Veterans Memorial Hospital.    

Intended participants are individuals 10 years of age and older who are responsible for their own care after school until their parents come home from work, and individuals who care for other children in or outside of their own home. Girls and boys are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) will be offering Grandparenting Classes again this spring. Corinne Cook, RN, Babysitting Class instructor, will teach the next Grandparenting Class Saturday, April 11 from 9:30 a.m. until Noon. The class will be held in the hospital’s Large Conference Room. 

In these classes, new or soon-to-be grandparents will learn all the new protocols to use when caring for their new grandchild. Some topics covered will include basic baby care, car seat safety, Tylenol/Ibuprofen dosing charts, home safety, poison control information, infant/child CPR, choking and other emergency medical information as well as tips to support parents such as handling the baby blues and postpartum depression. Free-will donations will be accepted to cover the costs of the class.

Blood donations are needed everywhere, even right here in Iowa. The following are interesting facts relating to blood from LifeServe Blood Center who supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with their blood products:

• Every three seconds someone needs blood.
• Blood makes up about eight-percent of a person’s body weight.
• Blood is needed every minute of every day; summer, winter, spring and fall.
• Scheduled surgeries are often canceled around the country due to a lack of blood.
• Donating blood includes a health check for the donor (checking blood pressure, pulse, temperature and hemoglobin) prior to donating.
• There is absolutely no way you can contract any disease from giving blood.
• Blood can be split into different components (red cells, platelets, plasma, and cryoprecipitate) and used to help different types of patients.