Health

Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care/Allamakee County Public Health are offering all doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, plus the additional booster dose, at their weekly immunization clinics each Wednesday throughout the month of June. These vaccinations are by appointment only and are held each Wednesday afternoon, with extended hours available the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

These vaccinations are available at the main entrance of the hospital in the Meditation Healing Center. To make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination, in June and beyond, call Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care at 563-568-5660.

Beginning this week, the new behavioral tele-health services are available at the Veterans Memorial Hospital Medical Clinic in Waukon.  The contracted tele-health company provides the clinic with their own medical provider who specializes in psychiatry and can help with medication management.

Patients do need to be referred to this new service by their Veterans Memorial Hospital medical clinic provider or the hospital’s emergency room (ER). Anyone who has not yet established care at the clinic will need to do so in order to take advantage of this new service. All providers in the medical clinic are currently accepting new patients.

Once that care is established, the referral will be made and patients will be able to visit with this tele-health provider in the tele-health room. Clinic staff will assist with the tele-health connection with the health specialist then patients will meet privately with them over the system, pictured above, in that room.

“Welcome to Medicare” is a free, two-hour seminar offered by the Veterans Memorial Hospital Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) counselors for those nearing Medicare age. This program will be held Tuesday, June 21 from 5-7 p.m. in the Large Conference Room on the lower level of Veterans Memorial Hospital.

“Welcome to Medicare” will cover Medicare Part A and Part B benefits, the prescription drug benefit (Part D), Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare supplement insurance.

SHIIP, the Senior Health Insurance Information Program, is a service of the State of Iowa. Local SHIIP counselors Russ Hagen and Nancy Schoh are trained by the State and do not sell or promote any insurance companies, policies or agents.   Veterans Memorial Hospital is a local sponsor for SHIIP in Allamakee County.

Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care/Allamakee County Public Health are offering all doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, plus the additional booster dose, at their weekly immunization clinics each Wednesday throughout the month of June. These vaccinations are by appointment only and are held each Wednesday afternoon, with extended hours available the first and third Wednesdays of each month. These vaccinations are available at the main entrance of the hospital in the Meditation Healing Center. To make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination, in June and beyond, be sure to call Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care at 563-568-5660.

The local Grief Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon Tuesday, June 14 at 5 p.m. in the Meditation Healing Center, located just inside the main entrance of the hospital. Masks will be required.

This informal meeting is open to anyone suffering from any type of loss, whether it be death, divorce, illness or some other grief.

Feel free to attend and bring a friend, and be sure to wear a mask. All attendees will be able to physically distance during the meeting.  This grief support group meets the second Tuesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital.
 

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, June 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. Masks will be required to be worn.

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.
 

Veterans Memorial Hospital is now offering Blood Type testing as part of the Community Wellness testing program offered by the Lab. This program offers common lab tests at a reduced, up-front cost to avoid the high deductibles of some insurance companies. Other common Community Wellness tests include hemoglobin, cholesterol, vitamin D, potassium, blood glucose, etc. Blood typing is now offered along with this long list as another walk-in laboratory wellness test at Veterans Memorial Hospital with quick results.

Many individuals do not know what blood type they are. Hospitals and clinics may have your blood typed for several different reasons, but the most common reasons are the expectation of a blood transfusion due to anemia, leukemia or traumatic blood loss, or with a regular prenatal examination. Newborns also have their blood typed, but generally only when the mother is a negative blood type.

Every three years, Veterans Memorial Hospital is required to survey the residents of Allamakee County and the surrounding area served by the hospital to collect a list of the health needs the residents feel are most important. Community Health Needs Assessments gather information to help guide and direct health planning activities. The hospital is now conducting that survey once again and is seeking input from all the area communities.

Information from this survey is compiled and used to update and improve the health plan for this entire service area of the hospital.

Veterans Memorial Hospital is conducting this survey from now through June 30. The hospital encourages everyone to take a few minutes to complete this important survey so the results can be used to develop a plan to address the outlined health needs.

The Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation’s 29th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament will be held Monday, June 20, at the Waukon Golf and Country Club beginning with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m.

Teams of three will play 18 holes of golf. Breakfast rolls, lunch, dinner and prizes for everyone will all be provided for the donation of $75.

This is the 29th annual golf tournament the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation has sponsored. All those interested are asked to pre-register their team by calling the Waukon Golf and Country Club at 563-568-9939. The Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation is a volunteer board who raise funds to help promote health care in the area communities served by Veterans Memorial Hospital.

“Welcome to Medicare” is a free, two-hour seminar offered by the Veterans Memorial Hospital Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) counselors for those nearing Medicare age. This program will be held Tuesday, June 21, from 5-7 p.m. in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of Veterans Memorial Hospital.

“Welcome to Medicare” will cover Medicare Part A and Part B benefits, the prescription drug benefit (Part D), Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare supplement insurance.

SHIIP, the Senior Health Insurance Information Program, is a service of the State of Iowa. Local SHIIP counselors Russ Hagen and Nancy Schoh are trained by the State and do not sell or promote any insurance companies, policies or agents.   Veterans Memorial Hospital is a local sponsor for SHIIP in Allamakee County.