Health

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, April 16, 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.

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 Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.

April is National Occupational Therapy Month. Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with patients to help them stay safe in their own home. They also help patients who have been hospitalized return to their homes by assessing the home setup and encouraging modifications or making recommendations to ensure safety within their home.        

Richard (Dick) Smrcina has been utilizing the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) rehabilitation services of occupational therapy, physical therapy and home health nursing since February following a left leg, below the knee, amputation. He will continue with therapy to increase his independence with his home tasks as well as build up his strength and tolerance with walking with a walker.  

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.

In observance of Colon Cancer Awareness Month, Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) emphasizes the importance of early detection and prevention through regular colon cancer screenings. Despite being preventable, colon cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Routine screenings, such as colonoscopies, can help identify and remove pre-cancerous polyps before they develop into a serious health threat.

Colonoscopies are a vital tool in cancer prevention.  They are a very thorough test for detecting colon cancer and are routinely performed in the Veterans Memorial Hospital surgical suite. These procedures are quick and efficient, typically taking about three hours from start to finish. With general surgery available three days per week - Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays - scheduling colonoscopies is very accessible for those at risk.

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 raise awareness about shingles (herpes zoster virus) and the vaccine that helps prevent it. Shingles is a viral infection that affects one in three people during their lifetimes, causing a painful rash that can lead to chronic nerve pain, vision loss and other serious health problems. Despite these risks, many people don’t know that shingles is preventable.

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, April 6 from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon.

Heart disease remains the number one reason patients are hospitalized and many require blood during treatment. A single blood transfusion can help restore normal heart rhythm and oxygen flow during cardiac emergencies.

People who give blood have an 88-percent lower risk of having a heart attack so giving blood is a win-win situation for both the donor and the recipient. Blood pressure, pulse and hemoglobin are all checked at every blood donation so donors know if it’s high or low and can see patterns that may cause concern, helping keep them healthy and reducing heart attack risk.

by Beth Shafer, Growth and Development Coordinator, Veterans Memorial Hospital

Many of us are busy filing our 2025 taxes. However, it is never too soon to start planning for Tax Year 2026! The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) introduces policies that will affect how charitable contributions are deducted. In the past, taxpayers who take the standard deduction (about 86% of people) could not deduct their charitable donations on their tax returns. However, beginning with tax year 2026, if you take the standard deduction and do not itemize, you may deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 if filing jointly) of your cash contributions to certain qualified organizations. This may be the incentive you need to support a cause that is important to you such as the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation.

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.”

National Doctor’s Day is celebrated March 30 each year to honor the contributions of physicians across the US. The date commemorates its first recognition March 30, 1933, and date of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery by Dr. Crawford W. Long in 1842. It became an officially recognized day of appreciation when President George H.W. Bush signed it into law in 1990. National Doctor’s Day serves as a tribute to these professionals and the commitment they demonstrate, often under extraordinary circumstances. This National Doctors Day, March 30, Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) and Clinics proudly celebrates the dedication and resilience of America’s physicians. Laura Baxter, Chief Clinical Officer states, “We are truly blessed here at VMH to have such a compassionate and dedicated team of providers caring for our community.” Celebrate our local providers and all their contributions to making this a healthy community by showing great appreciation for the vital work they do.

March is National Athletic Training Month. Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) has three athletic trainers on staff including Brad Krambeer, ATC, LAT; Austin Troendle, DPT, ATC, who is a Doctor of Physical Therapy; and Shelly Valley, PTA, ATC, who is also a physical therapist assistant. These trainers use their variety of skills to rehabilitate athletes, often communicating with the physicians to help coordinate the best recovery.

Athletic trainers help treat and prevent injuries for people of all ages from athletes to laborers. They specialize in the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of physical injuries to the muscle, ligament and bone, as well as rehabilitation following surgery. Athletic trainers are also key in teaching injury prevention by explaining flexibility exercises, proper use of equipment and applying prevention devices such as tape, bandages and braces.