News Center newsletter

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Thursday, September 7 from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon.

The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with blood and blood products. 

Veterans Memorial Hospital has announced it will return to using Meduit to help with the collection of accounts for healthcare services. Meduit is the nation’s largest revenue cycle solutions company, serving over 1,000 medical facilities within 48 of the United States.

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 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.

The Stroke Support Group provides opportunities to share tips, tricks or trials among participants, offer support for caregivers, and provide an opportunity for socialization.

While strokes can happen at any age, risk of stroke is greatest as people get older with the majority of strokes occurring after the age of 70. Risk factors for stroke include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, binge drinking, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

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 meets the second Tuesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.
 

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 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 Allamakee County Fair Board has announced the dates for the 2024 Allamakee County Fair scheduled for next summer. Those dates have been set for Wednesday through Sunday, July 17-21 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon. Further event details will be published as they become available.
 

The photos above and at right of local bank clocks/thermometers in Waukon both hover right around the 100-degree mark as the heat wave that gripped the Midwest last week forced temperatures into the triple digits and the heat index well above the century mark when the higher humidity was factored in. The National Weather Service logged temperatures reaching a high of 100 degrees in the area Wednesday, August 23 from around 3-5 p.m., although both banks featured above say their thermometer readings exceeded the century mark by several degrees both Wednesday and Thursday.

Greg and Amy Lage of Allamakee County were inducted into the 2023 Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the 4-H Exhibits Building at the Iowa State Fair Sunday, August 20. Ninety-one Iowa counties participated this year and selected 127 inductees for their outstanding service and dedication to 4-H. Inductees or their surviving family members were presented a certificate by Iowa 4-H Foundation President David Bolte and Interim State 4-H Program Leader Mitchell Hoyer as they were introduced on stage.

The contribution to 4-H by Greg and Amy Lage of Postville is widely felt, said ISU Extension and Outreach Allamakee County Youth Coordinator Marissa Foels. This year’s inductees started as youth members of 4-H when they were nine years old and remained active through their early adult years.

They continued to instill the value of 4-H in their two daughters and can still be found behind the scenes supporting and encouraging the youth in Allamakee County.

The Iowa Governor’s Office has received notification that the State of Iowa’s request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration has been granted for seven counties that were severely impacted by spring flooding earlier this year along the Mississippi River. Counties included in the declaration include Allamakee and Clayton in northeast Iowa, along with Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee and Scott Counties.

Under the declaration, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance Program funding is available to eligible public entities and nonprofit organizations in the designated counties that were impacted by the April 24-May 13, 2023 Mississippi River flooding. Public Assistance funding may be used for emergency work, such as debris removal and emergency protective measures, or for the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities.

The four Allamakee County 4-H’ers pictured in the surrounding photos with their swine entries represented themselves and their home county well with some Purple ribbon success experienced at the Iowa State Fair 4-H Swine Show held the mornings of Monday, August 14 and Tuesday, August 15 on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Pictured in the surrounding submitted photos, are Wyatt Baxter, Alaina Gebel, Trudy Baxter and Marcus Gebel. All four Allamakee County youth had their entries earn at least one Purple ribbon in either the Monday, August 14 Breeding Swine Show or the Tuesday, August 15 Market Swine Show, with that Purple ribbon designation meaning the entry is eligible for show championship consideration, according to Iowa State Fair rules and regulations.