Health

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) and Elliott Jewelers Women’s Health Day will be celebrating their 20th annual event this year with a new Women’s Wellness Night Out. This year, the event is being sponsored by not only Veterans Memorial Hospital and Elliott Jewelers, but also the Waukon Chamber of Commerce, Thursday, September 11, from 4-7 p.m. at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon.

A total of seven different speakers on a variety of popular health and wellness topics will outline the night with over 40 health, wellness and family agencies/vendors onsite ready to visit about the services they offer. Goodie bags will be shared with the first 200 ladies who come through the doors. Hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the evening and a cash bar will be available.

Tatum Iverson is the full-time social services coordinator at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH). Her role is very large, touching most every patient’s care who enters and leaves the hospital, working closely with hospital staff, patients, their families and their insurance companies to coordinate the proper levels of care needed and be sure these are approved. She can provide the assistance families need for taking the next steps following a hospital discharge and can also help with a referral to skilled care, even from another healthcare facility.

by Brandy Strub, Dietitian, Veterans Memorial Hospital

Do you know what the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. is? Per the Centers for Disease Conrol (CDC), it’s the norovirus. It is responsible for half of all outbreaks of food related illness and typically peaks from November to April.

The main symptoms associated with norovirus are diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. People are most contagious when they feel sick and during the first few days after they feel better.

Norovirus is a virus that spreads easily by infected people who touch or prepare food when they are sick or sometimes by food that comes from contaminated water, such as seafood.

Summer is a time of high blood demand in all communities. Donating blood is easy and one single blood donation can save the lives of up to three sick or injured hospital patients.

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, September 8. The drive will be held from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. 

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, September 18, at 10 a.m.  The meeting will be held at Veterans Memorial Hospital in the Large Conference Room on the lower level of the hospital.

This diabetes class is open to everyone who has diabetes or has a friend or loved one with diabetes.  For more information on the Diabetes Support Group, call  Angie Mettille, RN, Certified Diabetes Educator at VMH at 563-568-3411.

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) and Elliott Jewelers Women’s Health Day will be celebrating their 20th annual event this year with a new Women’s Wellness Night Out. This year, the event is being sponsored by not only Veterans Memorial Hospital and Elliott Jewelers, but also the Waukon Chamber of Commerce, Thursday, September 11, from 4-7 p.m. at the Allamakee Fairgrounds Pavilion. 

A total of seven different speakers on a variety of popular health and wellness topics will outline the night with over 40 health, wellness and family agencies/vendors on site ready to visit about the services they offer. Goodie bags will be shared with the first 200 ladies who come through the doors. Hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the evening and a cash bar will be available.

Veterans Memorial Hospital and Clinics Administrator (Chief Executive Officer), Michael Coyle, announced plans for a new Postville Medical Clinic, at the Postville City Council meeting Monday night, August 11. Reasons for the need for a new clinic were many, but focused on the lack of space for the growing number of patients at the clinic each day.

“Our Postville Medical Clinic has been growing so well, going from 2 patients a day up to 16 per day. We average 9-10 patients a day and can no longer advertise walk-in appointments,” stated Laura Baxter, Waukon and Postville Clinic Director. “Our provider appointment slots are full most every day and we have so much more demand in both family health care and behavioral health care. Fortunately we do have new providers recruited to begin in Postville, but we have nowhere to put them. So we are very anxious to get this project underway.”

Consider a different way to give back to the heart of the community by donating blood. The next local drive will be held in Waukon Monday, September 8, at the First Baptist Church located in south Waukon. 

Cancer treatment is tough on anyone, but especially hard on children. 
• More than 15,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year in the U.S.
• Pediatric patients use 652,000 units of blood annually.
• Patients battling cancer use 25-percent of the U.S. blood supply.
• A child undergoing chemotherapy may use up to eight platelet units per week.
• Individuals with cancer may need blood due to anemia and/or thrombocytopenia caused by cancer, or as a result of treatments like chemo, radiation or blood loss during surgery.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Community and Home Care – Allamakee Public Health is looking ahead to the month of September which is National Preparedness Month, to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time.

“We want to encourage everyone in the area to remember to have a preparedness plan because disasters do happen.” states Sheryl Darling-Mooney, RN, Allamakee Public Health Supervisor. “We feel the month of September is a good time to remind the public to have a plan. We can have very volatile weather in the Midwest and we encourage everyone to follow these suggestions from Ready.gov, to make a plan and be ready, just in case.”

Memorials were received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in memory of Don Buhl by Jane Dietrich, Wendy and Paul Ebner, Donald and DiAnne Haler, Kathryn Wooden and Brad and Erin Berns.

Memorials were also received in memory of Beverly Johnson by Ron and Nancy Adam, Patsy Kerndt, Nola Palmer, Chuck and Lois Votsmier and an anonymous donation.

In addition, memorials were also received in memory of Richard “Dick” Berns by Chuck and Lois Votsmier, in memory of Dave Duncklee by Don and Mary Jane McGraw, in memory of Michael Johnson by Don and MaryJane McGraw, in memory of Karen Milton by Clarke and Sheila Simmonds, in memory of Marc Teff by Joan Bieber and in memory of Duwayne Snitker by Chuck and Lois Votsmier.