News Center newsletter

by Angie Mettille, RN/BSN, CDE, Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Educator

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people in the United States. It is caused by insulin resistance and/or deficiency, causing blood sugars to be too high. You likely know someone that has diabetes, or maybe have been diagnosed with diabetes yourself. Even if you have never been told that you have diabetes, it is important to be aware of symptoms of elevated blood sugars, also called hyperglycemia.

So how do you know if you have hyperglycemia? Whether you have been diagnosed with diabetes or not, it is important to listen to your body and be proactive if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, as they could be related to diabetes:

- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Recurrent infections
- Injuries that heal more slowly than usual
- Blurry vision
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue.

The local Grief Support Group will hold its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital Tuesday, December 4, which is earlier than normal this month due to the holidays. The group will meet at 5 p.m. in the Education Conference Room.

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. This grief support usually meets the second Tuesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital but again has been moved up to December 4 due to the holidays.
 

Memorials were received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in memory of Rita Votsmier by Dave and Laurie Martin, Dennis and Sandy Deal, Tom and Karen Regan, Vernis Haberichter, David and Suzanne Hahn, Jerry and Malinda Berns, Kate Wooden, Jim and Jill Kiesau, Dave and Rita Newton, Jim and Linda Ryan, Meg Schaller, Orrin and Nan Grangaard, Frank and Carol Sivesind, Jack and Denise Hager, Scott and Cheryl Livingston, Gary and Toni Kolsrud, Brian and Mandy O’Neill, Grace Murphy, Jane Tepesch, Jane Dietrich, Mike and Julie Snitker, Bob and Joyce Schorg, Wendy Bucheit, Gladwin and Darlene Anderson, Joan Bieber, Vincent Haas and family and friends of Rita Votsmier.

Memorials were also received in memory of Lavone “Bonnie” Johnson by Rick and Cathy Larson, John and Lorna Kerndt, Sr., Mae Jean Bakke, Betty White and Jerry and Linda Siegrist.

Jani Lyn Lippert and Jonathan Robert Promnitz exchanged wedding vows June 9, 2018 at Village Creek near Lansing. Pastor Bryce Roskens and Pastor Harrison Lippert, father of the bride, officiated the ceremony.

Parents of the bride are Harrison and Pamela Lippert of Steamboat Rock and parents of the groom are Paul and Brenda Promnitz of Waukon. Grandparents of the bride are Henry and Sherry Lippert and Delmar and Carol Guthmiller. Grandparents of the groom are Jean Buntrock and Marj Kiel.

The Maid of Honor was Jessica Lippert, sister of the bride, with bridesmaids Bethany Lippert and Natalie Lippert, also both sisters of the bride, and Leah Hogle and Natalie Cooley. Junior bridesmaids were Chaylie Lippert and Karis Lippert, both sisters of the bride. Kimberly Youngberg, sister of the groom, was a personal attendant.

Best Man was Drew Pietan, with groomsmen Phillip Magnini, Aaron Palmer, and Bryce McCauley and Aaron Youngberg, both brothers-in-law of the groom.

Bruce and Callie Weigel of Elma and Dean and Kim Zakostelecky of Lime Springs wish to announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their children, Kimberly Sue Weigel and Jacob Dean Zakostelecky.

The bride-to-be is a 2015 graduate of Crestwood High School, a 2017 graduate of Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) general studies associate degree program and is currently enrolled in the nursing program at NICC. The bride-to-be is employed part-time as a CMA/CNA at the Good Samaritan Center in Waukon and as a PRN PCT at Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah. The bride-to-be also enjoys teaching dance classes.

The groom-to-be is a 2011 graduate of Crestwood High School and is employed full-time as a Service Writer at Decorah Auto Center and works part-time at Waukon Power Sports and coaches YSF Football in Waukon.

Doug and Rhonda Koenig of Frankville celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary November 17. Doug Koenig and Rhonda Feickert were married November 17, 1978 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Postville.

They are the parents of Kari (Roger) Caceres of Calmar and Bryce (Tiffany) Koenig of Waukon. They have been blessed with seven grandchildren.
 

Raleigh Dow and Anna Buckmaster of Bozeman, MT announce the birth of their son, Connor Dow Buckmaster, born September 18, 2018 at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman, MT. He weighed 5 lbs. 9 ozs. and measured 19-3/4 inches in length at the time of his birth. He joins a sister, Mia (3).

Grandparents are Raleigh and JoEllyn Buckmaster of Lansing and David and Barbara Kalkwarf of McGregor. Delbert Augsburger is a great-grandparent.
 

Tanya Vargason of Waukon announces the birth of her son, Landon Michael Lee Hageman, born November 5, 2018 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 ozs. and measured 23-1/2 inches in length at the time of his birth. He joins siblings, Christian (15), Emily (11) and Rylee (4).

Grandparents are Skyla Vargason of Postville, Scott Vargason of West Branch, Tami Hageman of Calmar and Delbert Hageman of Decorah. Colleen Vargason of West Branch is a great-grandparent.
 

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that there is an old saying to the effect that government which governs least governs best.

The recent mid-term election, which still isn’t over, mainly thanks once again to Broward County, Florida and its incompetent supervisor of elections, would seem to indicate that Americans subscribe to that idea. Voters gave Democrats control of the house, but Republicans maintain control of the senate. That probably means very little legislation has a chance of succeeding.

If nothing else, election results show a nation badly divided, and ditto for the state of Iowa, but for a slightly different reason.

It isn’t universally true, but generally on the national scene the more populous West Coast and the Northeast states voted liberal, while the great mid-section voted conservative.

There’s a lesson to be learned there about the importance of the Electoral College to small population states.

Hooligans lit the fire in the first-grade classroom with a pile of textbooks. But textbooks apparently don’t burn very well. The classroom was destroyed, and the one next to it damaged, but that was all.

It was a Saturday evening, so the custodian called the principal at home to report the fire. When the principal arrived at the school, it wasn’t just the blackened remains of arson that made her sick. It was graffiti sprayed on the walls that truly turned her stomach: “No co-existence with cancer.” “Death to Arabs.”

The principal was an Arab, and her school was the rarest of things to be found in the heart of Jerusalem: a school whose students were 50 percent Arab and 50 percent Jewish. And on this dark night, she was in mourning.

“My first thought was, ‘Our dream is finished.’ Surely NO parent will want to send their children here anymore.”