Health

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

This summer, our country is celebrating a special milestone - America’s 250th birthday. It’s a time to enjoy everything that makes northeast Iowa special while also reflecting on the values that have helped shape our nation for generations: freedom, service, generosity and neighbors helping neighbors.

Summer has always been a season that brings our communities together. Whether you’re watching a patriotic boat parade, cheering on runners at the Harpers Ferry Firecracker 5K, attending a local ballgame, enjoying a community meal or simply spending time with family and friends, these hometown traditions remind us what makes rural communities so special.

They also remind us that strong communities aren’t built only during celebrations. They’re built every day by people who look out for one another.

Dementia Friends is a global movement that is changing the way people think, act, and talk about dementia. Developed and proven to be successful by the Alzheimer’s Society in the United Kingdom, the Dementia Friends initiative is now underway in Iowa and across the United States.

Increase your knowledge about dementia, learn what it’s like to live with the disease and helpful tips for communicating with someone who has dementia. This free Dementia Friends session will be held Monday, July 27, from 2-3 p.m. at the New Albin Public Library.

Registration is not required. Contact Bethany Schulte at 319-239-2902 or bschulte@nei3a.org with questions. Everyone who attends will leave with a new understanding of dementia that they can put into a practical action that can help someone living in their community. After attending, all participants will be considered a “Dementia Friend.”

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Ambulance Service was recently able to purchase a Binder Lift thanks to the funds that had been collected through memorial donations to the hospital’s Foundation. This Binder Lift will greatly assist the emergency medical team with lifting patients off the ground. It has over 24 different handles to grab to help responders lift patients out of restricted, cramped areas, such as around the toilet, and can be used on patients weighing from 80 to 800 pounds.

Waukon Golf and Country Club held a 4 gal best shot invitational golf tournament Monday, June 29.  The committee chose a “Pink Out” theme to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and prevention. A $500 donation was presented to the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation for the Radiology Department Mammography fund. The winning team of the Championship flight with a score of 62 was the four generation Peake family team pictured above, left to right, including Brenna Bodensteiner, her mother Amy Bodensteiner, her grandmother Cathy Peake Angel, and her great-grandmother, 94-year-old JoAnn Peake. Submitted photo.
 

Visitors to the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Fair Booth this year will be invited to play hospital trivia. Prizes will be awarded along with support information and other giveaways. They will also be offering free blood pressure checks, blood sugar tests and hemoglobin testing each day at the Allamakee County Fair with educational materials provided for each.

Thousands of people in the United States have diabetes and are unaware they do. Random testing such as this opportunity at the county fair helps to find the individuals who have high, undiagnosed diabetes and direct them to the professionals who can help them successfully manage the disease.  For more information on diabetes and diabetes management, feel free to call Angie Mettille, BSN/RN/CDCES, Diabetes Educator, at Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.

Thursday, July 16, at 3:30 pm staff from both Veterans Memorial Hospital and Clinic and Regional Health Services of Howard County area hospitals will present “Mental Health and Aging.” The program will take place in Decorah Public Library’s lower level meeting room.  

Our physical health is often the first thing we think of as we age, but mental and emotional health play critical roles in our wellbeing. Join Mackenzie Adams, Kayla Baxter, and Katie Osmonson to learn from trained providers about what mental health means as we age. Attendees will learn to recognize common challenges in older adulthood, learn to recognize signs of some mental health issues, and learn about local and national resources that can help them. 

Free Sport Physicals will be offered one more time, Wednesday, July 22, from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Hospital Clinic-Waukon for all junior high and high school students who need the physical for participating in the 2026-2027 school sporting events.   

This clinic will include all necessary documentation, including a concussion screening, for participation in all school activities.  Physicals are scheduled in 1-hour segments. The clinic staff will not be administering vaccines during this time.  If those are needed for students, call the clinic at 563-568-5530 to schedule an appointment.

Students in area schools were emailed a google doc (2026 Athletic Physicals) to sign-up for a time slot for this free clinic. Parent emails will not work for sign-up so students will need to sign-up for a time slot that works best for them or the family.

For more information, contact your middle school or high school secretaries for assistance.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, July 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 month’s topic will focus on getting back to the basics with straightforward diabetes information and reviewing carbohydrates and carb counting. “This is one of the most important foundations of blood sugar control because we all eat,” explains Angie Mettille, Diabetes Educator and facilitator of the these Diabetes Support Group meetings. “If we do a good job with monitoring our carb intake most of the time, blood sugars will benefit.”

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, Diabetes Educator, at VMH at 563-568-3411.

The new family practice physician, Dr. Olaitan Akinboboye, will begin seeing patients next week at the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Postville Clinic.  He will begin caring for patients Tuesday, July 14. 

Dr. Akinboboye will join nurse practitioners Minji Ransom, NP; Katie Maker, NP/Nurse Midwife; Hannah Kelly, NP; Mason Kerian NP; and Alex Berns, NP, who all provide family medicine one to two days a week at the Postville Clinic as well as at the Waukon Clinic. Dr. Akinboboye will again add a physician choice to the Postville Clinic, following the retirement of Dr. Thomas McMullan last November. 

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) will be offering free blood pressure checks, blood sugar tests and hemoglobin testing each day, Thursday through Saturday, at the Allamakee County Fair Pavilion with educational materials provided for each.

Thousands of people in the United States have diabetes and are unaware they do. Random testing such as this opportunity at the county fair helps to find the individuals who have high, undiagnosed diabetes and direct them to the professionals who can help them successfully manage the disease. 

The symptoms of diabetes include a lack of energy, increased hunger, frequent urination and excessive thirst, blurred vision, loss of feelings in hands and toes, frequent, slow-healing infections and weight loss.