Health

Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon is now offering Urgent Care seven days a week.  Urgent Care is designed for treating injuries or illnesses requiring immediate care, but not serious enough to require an emergency department visit.

Urgent Care is now offered every Monday through Friday evening from 5-9 p.m. and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Patients may enter through the main entrance of the hospital and ask for Urgent Care.  A registered nurse will assess each patient and decide if they meet criteria for urgent care. Urgent Care is first come, first serve with emergency patients taking precedence.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Education Program offers continuous glucose monitoring as an outpatient service. The Freestyle Libre Pro System offers the option of continuous glucose monitoring for three to 14 days. This system helps health care providers fine-tune their patients’ diabetes treatment plan, giving patients optimal control of their diabetes and their life.

Continuous glucose monitoring is used to determine what a patient’s blood glucose levels are continuously, 24 hours a day, even while they sleep. When the data is downloaded at the end of the study, there are a total of 288 blood sugar readings available over a 24-hour time span. The information is able to be transferred onto graphs which can show the healthcare providers how a patient’s blood sugar trends throughout each day the sensor is worn.

The next Life Serve Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, December 2 from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

The LifeServe Blood Center seeks donors to ensure a safe and plentiful blood supply in Iowa. Because there is no substitute for human blood, the need for donors is continuous.

How much does ONE blood donation help? The LifeServe Blood Center states, one blood donation can do the following:
· Cancer: up to eight platelet units per week
· Burn Victims:  Up to 20 plasma units
· Automobile Accidents:  Up to 50 red blood cell units.
· Premature Infants:  Up to five units
· Heart Surgery:  Up to six red blood cell units plus six platelet units
· Organ Transplants:  Up to 25 plasma units plus 30 platlet units plus 40 red blood cell units.

by the Allamakee EMS Association

Where you live may determine if you live...

This scary thought is becoming a familiar concern proposed to many rural Emergency Medical Service (EMS) coverage areas and could be our future.  What if there was no one available to take your call?

You can help. You can become an EMT!

Anyone you talk to in EMS chose that lifestyle because they genuinely want to help people. If you are interested in joining the EMS community, contact your local ambulance service and find out how!

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are needed in every community! NICC will be offering a face-to-face EMT Class in Waukon beginning in January. We hope to see this class full of new and enthusiastic people wanting to help others by joining a local EMS community.

Call NICC at 800-728-2256 to register for this January EMT Class in Waukon.  For more information, call Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.
 

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital will be holding its monthly Euchre Marathon for all individuals of the community interested Thursday, November 21. Men and women are welcome to attend, even if not an Auxiliary member. The Euchre marathons are held the third Thursday of each month at the Senior Citizens Room at the Waukon Wellness Center.

The Auxiliary’s Euchre Marathons begin at 11:30 a.m. with dinner, if chosen. Call Northland Agency on Aging at 877-838-8077 if choosing to eat dinner. Card playing will follow at 12:30 p.m. until approximately 2:30 p.m. Anyone wishing to stay and play cards following the Senior Citizens meal is more than welcome to do so. All proceeds go towards the Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital. Prizes will be awarded.

Anyone interested in attending, but preferring to play Bridge is also welcome to join in.  It is asked that they come with their own table of four players, however.

Veterans Memorial Hospital will be offering the next recertification course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for health care providers (those working in health related fields such as physicians, nurses, EMS, etc.) Wednesday, December 18, beginning at 5 p.m. This “Health Care Professional” CPR class will be held in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of the hospital.

All registrants should bring along their own pocket mask, if they have one. Upon successful completion of the class, the participant will receive an electronic card certifying them as a BLS Healthcare Provider for a two-year period.

Pre-registration plus a minimum of three participants is required for the class to be held. For more information and to register for “Health Care Provider” CPR, call Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.
 

The Allamakee County Relief Office is hosting its “We Care” Christmas Tree, which is located at Hartig Drug on Main Street in Waukon this year. The “We Care” tree will have tags to be selected from the tree with general information about Christmas gift ideas for children living in Allamakee County who are less fortunate.

Based on the information on the tag, those gifts can be purchased and returned to the Allamakee County Relief Office in Waukon by December 10 for distribution to those children in time for Christmas. For more information about the “We Care” Christmas Tree, call the Allamakee County Relief Office at 563-568-3591.
 

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, November 21 at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at Veterans Memorial Hospital in the Large Conference Room, located on the hospital’s lower level.

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, at Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.
 

The local Grief Support Group will not be meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital until after the first of the year, 2020. When the January date is set, notice of the next meeting will be published.

The Grief Support Group is open to anyone suffering from any type of loss, whether it be death, divorce, illness or some other grief.

Watch for the announcement for the date of the next Grief Support Group or call Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411 with questions.
 

By Angie Mettille, RN/CDE, Certified Diabetes Educator

Have you been hearing about diabetes support group on the radio or read about it in the newspaper? Maybe you have heard people talking about it at morning coffee. Are you wondering what it is and what it’s about? Here are some commonly asked questions regarding diabetes support group.

What is Diabetes Support Group?
An hour-long meeting held held the third Thursday of every month (except July and December) that is facilitated by the VMH Nurse Diabetes Educator. Speakers are invited to present to the group on a topic directly or indirectly related to managing diabetes. Some recent topics that have been covered are: eye and dental health while living with diabetes, gardening, carbohydrate reviews, diabetic emergencies, medication update, managing stress, and cooking demonstrations.