Health Unit Coordinator Week was recently celebrated August 23-29 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon and at health care facilities across the country. The role of the Health Unit Coordinator (HUC) is vital to the operations of the patient floor in any health care facility. Veterans Memorial Hospital has three full-time health unit coordinators who help maintain the flow of patient care, providing support and communication to all staff and families on the patient floor. Pictured at right at the Emergency Room (ER) station are two of those three coordinators, including, left to right, Erin Troendle and Celeste Marting, whose last name was incorrectly submitted in information printed in last week’s edition of The Standard. Submitted photo.
In honor of Sepsis Awareness Month, the Sepsis Alliance is encouraging everyone to learn the signs of sepsis. Statistics show that 1.7 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with sepsis each year with 350,000 of those passing away. In the United States, sepsis takes a life every two minutes. As many as 80 percent of sepsis deaths could be prevented with early detection and treatment.
Sepsis happens when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection. The body’s reaction causes damage to its own tissues and organs. Anyone can develop sepsis, but the following are at higher risk for sepsis:
• Adults 65 or older
• People with weakened immune systems
• People with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, lung disease, cancer, and kidney disease
• People with recent severe illness or hospitalization, including those with severe COVID-19
• People who survived sepsis
• Children younger than one.
The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Diabetes Support Group will hold its next meeting Thursday, September 21 at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at 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 Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.
The local Grief Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital Tuesday, September 12 at 5 p.m. in the Meditation Healing Center, located just inside the main entrance of the hospital.
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 group meets the second Tuesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.
Veterans Memorial Hospital will return to using Meduit to help with the collection of accounts for healthcare services September 5. With the help once again of Meduit, Veterans Memorial Hospital will be able to provide cash acceleration to significantly improve financial performance. Veterans Memorial Hospital had used the help of this outside agency with its account collections until the last few years and has decided to return to this same service.
Veterans Memorial Hospital Speech-Language Pathologist Steven Mazzafield offers a Stroke Support Group for individuals who have experienced a stroke, as well as caregivers and family members affected by stroke.
Monthly meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 2 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH). The next Stroke Support Group meeting will be held Thursday, September 7 at 2 p.m. in the Large Conference Room.
This month, Mazzafield will be giving a presentation on the different types of strokes. Anyone is welcome to attend who may want to learn more.
The Stroke Support Group provides opportunities to share tips, tricks or trials among participants, offer support for caregivers, and provide an opportunity for socialization.
Bill Moody of Harpers Ferry will be turning 80 years old September 20. In celebration of his 80th birthday, his family will be hosting an open house for family, friends and acquaintances.
The open house celebration will take place Saturday, September 16 at Portside Supper Club in Harpers Ferry from 5-9 p.m. No gifts are requested.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor pictured above for the state of Iowa released by the National Weather Service Thursday, August 31 shows all of Allamakee County, and a majority of northeast Iowa, in the grips of Extreme Drought (as indicated with the red color in the map above). Further information compiled by the National Weather Service notes that the rainfall experienced for the week prior to that August 31 Drought Monitor was no greater than four-tenths (.40) of an inch in the northeast Iowa area, with the average rainfall during that time frame having previously been reported at nine-tenths (.90) of an inch. As a result, the Extreme Drought grew from covering just 5.28% of the state of Iowa as of August 22, to now 17.59% as of the end of August, with most of that Extreme Drought growth coming in the northeast Iowa area.
Area origin of eventual merger ... The building pictured above in Waterville once housed the original Farmers & Merchants State Bank, which eventually merged to become part of the 120-year history being celebrated by FreedomBank with a customer appreciation meal Tuesday, September 12 in Waukon. Farmers & Merchants State Bank first opened December 8, 1925 in Waterville before expanding by opening an office in Waukon and moving its charter there as Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank. The merger with FreedomBank took place in 2019. Photo courtesy of FreedomBank.
by Lissa Blake
FreedomBank will celebrate its 120th anniversary of doing business in northeast Iowa with a community meal Tuesday, September 12 in Waukon. A complimentary meal will be offered from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon.
HISTORY
FreedomBank, with locations in Waukon, Elkader, Monona, Postville and Decorah, traces its roots back to Farmersburg Savings Bank of Farmersburg, which started in 1903. March 12, 1903 the decision was made to build a bank at a cost of $2,852, and this bank building is still standing in Farmersburg over one hundred years later.
