Health

submitted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans noted that many school-aged children are not eating enough of the recommended amounts of certain food groups, including vegetables, fruits and dairy. As a result, they may not be consuming the nutrients they need to support their growing bodies.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and its Foundation say parents and caregivers can play a significant role in children’s nutrition and health by teaching kids about healthful foods, being good role models and making sure physical activity is incorporated into each day.

Veterans Memorial Hospital will be visiting Lansing’s Music in the Park Thursday evening, August 24, offering free Blood Sugar Testing and Blood Pressure checks with immediate results by Angie Mettille, Diabetes Educator.  The hospital typically offers these two tests at most all area events and often times catches individuals who unknowingly have high results. Both of these checks take just a few seconds to perform and are free of charge.

This summer, Veterans Memorial Hospital has been offering “Be the Match” stem cell sampling for everyone ages 18-40 at all events they are attending.  “Be the Match” sampling is quick, easy, painless and can truly save a life. This is the same program that Robin Roberts from Good Morning America endorses following her own successful bone marrow transplant match 10 years ago.

Did you know one in seven people entering the hospital will need blood?

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon invites the community to attend the next LifeServe Blood Center Blood Drive Thursday, September 7, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. Blood drives are held once per month in Waukon. The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

The LifeServe Blood Center is seeking 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.

Over half of the United States population is eligible to donate blood, yet less than four percent donate on a regular basis. A single donation of blood can be used to save up to three lives and help in treatment of cancer patients, accident victims, hemophiliacs and surgery patients.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, August 17 at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at Veterans Memorial Hospital in the Large Conference Room, located on the lower level of the hospital.

Cathy Buhl from Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank will attend the meeting to discuss common scams and how to protect yourself from becoming a victim.  Everyone is invited to bring friends or family with them who may be interested.   

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 Emergency Department at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon was recently surveyed by five professionals from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services, who intensely investigated the policies, procedures and equipment in the department. Callie Thorson, Emergency Room (ER) Supervisor, coordinated the survey with the team members.

To be a level IV trauma facility, there are several criteria that need to be met yearly. This verification happens every three years to ensure Veterans Memorial Hospital is meeting that criteria and to offer feedback on what can be done to improve the trauma program.

The Waukon Lions Club recently made a sizable donation to the Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Education Program in support of their mission to promote self-management and learning relating to diabetes and vision impairment. This donation is two-fold and will fund the purchasing of diabetes education reference materials for patients, as well as offer the option of funding one-on-one diabetes consultations for those without insurance who need this scholarship to obtain this useful education.

“One of the main missions of Lions Club International is to improve the lives of those living with diabetes, and to help the blind and visually impaired,” states Neal Daley, Secretary of the Waukon Lions Club. “Since diabetes and visual impairment can go hand-in-hand, we feel this donation meets the Lions Club mission on a local level, supporting our nationally certified Diabetes Education Program that is offered right here at Veterans Memorial Hospital.”

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital is devoted to providing the hospital and its patients and visitors with many services. Their annual membership drive is on now. Auxiliary membership dues are just $10 for active members and $15 for inactive members.

The Auxiliary meets monthly the second Monday of each month, at 1 p.m., in the ICN Conference Room at Veterans Memorial Hospital.  In addition to their annual membership drive, they host several events each year including the Women’s Health Day which will be held Tuesday, September 26; the feather pillow Pillow Perk which is set for October 16, as well as their spring garage sale, all in addition to the gift case items located just inside the main entrance to the hospital.

The free sports physicals that were offered at the Veterans Memorial Hospital Clinic-Waukon in July of this year served 196 area student-athletes who needed the physical for participating in school sporting events. For those who may have missed these free physicals, appointments can still be made at both the Waukon and Postville Medical Clinics to have the required paperwork completed before the start of the school year.

For school-aged children, most insurance companies will cover one well-child check-up per year, as long as it is scheduled as a well-child checkup and not a sports physical. For those who may not have the annual well-child visits covered on their health insurance plan, a sports physical can be held and will be charged a fee per appointment. These well-child check-ups will include a full-physical, plus will also include all necessary documentation, including a concussion screening, for participation in all school athletic activities.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, August 17 at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in the Large Conference Room, located on the lower level of the hospital.

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

For many years, Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon has not stocked the antivenom for rattlesnake bites for two reasons. One, rattlesnake bites are extremely rare and two, the cost of keeping the antivenom on hand was astronomical at nearly $30,000 for an initial course of treatment. Then, whenever the antivenom outdates, a new course would need to again be purchased at that cost. The hospital discontinued stocking the antivenom many years ago, as did many other Iowa hospitals, and made back-up plans to transfer any patients to larger facilities if the antivenom was needed.

Due to this summer’s dry conditions forcing more rattlesnakes to venture from their dens, there have been a few rattlesnake bites in the area. Because of this, Veterans Memorial Hospital pharmacist Brittney Snitker began searching for alternative resources to allow the hospital to stock the antivenom once again.