Urgent Care services at Veterans Memorial Hospital were expanded beginning Monday, October 4, for better accessibility for all patients. Now one medical provider is dedicated to just seeing the Urgent Care patients while another emergency provider is dedicated to the emergency room patients. This will greatly lessen the wait times for those seeking Urgent Care.
Veterans Memorial Hospital began offering Urgent Care two years ago. The need for Urgent Care has greatly grown since last spring and many patients have experienced long wait times when the emergency department was also busy with patients. Now Urgent Care will have its own clinical space near the main entrance of the hospital along with its own provider to more quickly triage the patients and cover their medical needs.
Northeast Iowa Community College Business and Community Solutions will be offering an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course in Waukon through video conferencing being broadcast from Calmar. This 138-hour course begins in early October.
Areas of study include an introduction to emergency medical services systems, roles and responsibilities of EMTs, anatomy and physiology, medical emergencies, trauma, special considerations for working in the pre-hospital setting, and providing patient transportation.
Effective immediately, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the following:
• People 65 years of age and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series.
• People aged 50–64 years with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series.
• People aged 18–49 years with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks.
Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon will sponsor a Babysitting Seminar Saturday, October 23 for a total of 40 students. This year, the class will be broken down into two different sessions to allow for better spacing of the students. The morning session will be held from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and the afternoon session from 1-4 p.m. The same information will be taught at both sessions, so students can sign up for one session or the other. A total of 20 students will be allowed in each session. Both will be held in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of Veterans Memorial Hospital.
Intended participants are individuals 10 years of age and older who are responsible for their own care after school until their parents come home from work, and individuals who care for other children in or outside of their own home. Girls are not the sole babysitters in this society. Boys are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
Veterans Memorial Hospital in cooperation with the American Heart Association is offering a course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for lay people (those not working in healthcare), which includes child care providers, Wednesday, October 6, from 5-8 p.m.
The CPR class, which will cover adult, child and infant CPR, will be held in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of the hospital. The cost of the class, for certification or recertification, is the same. Upon successful completion of the class, the participant will receive an electronic card certifying them in Heartsaver CPR automated external defibrillator (AED) for a two-year time period. This class does not include a first aid certification.
Maleaha Johnson and Kyle DeVary of Waukon announce the birth of their daughter, Triniti Kae DeVary, born September 24, 2021 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 21-1/2 inches in length at the time of her birth. She joins a sister, Aspen Sawyer DeVary (3).
Grandparents are Teletha Johnson and Donna Dickson, both of Waukon. Great-grandparents are Darlene and Gene Johnson of Waukon.
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
October 12: Coronavirus Food Assistance 2 (CFAP2)
October 15: Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers
Tar Spot in Allamakee County by LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist
Crop year 2021 has been subject to numerous stressors starting with an early drought and ending with tar spot on corn and army worms on forage. Tar spot has been slowly moving into Iowa and this year seems to have infected most corn fields in Allamakee County. Depending on when the fungus started and the degree of infection yield loss seems to range from negligible to significant.
In 2020, the Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology – Survey Research Services at Iowa State University was contracted to conduct an online/mail survey with dairy farmers in Iowa to learn about their current operations, needs and expectations for the future.
The survey consisted of 903 Grade A and B dairy producers in Iowa and was part of a research effort coordinated by Jennifer Bentley, Fred Hall and Larry Tranel, dairy specialists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, who served as principal investigators on this project.
Results provide insight on the current state of the dairy industry in Iowa and will be summarized through reports for educators, industry collaborators, elected officials and the general public.
On a recent Sunday, my wife and I chose to spend a beautiful fall afternoon at one of Allamakee County Conservation Board’s gems, Stonebrook Park on the Yellow River, accessible by County Road W4B. We brought our bikes along and rode over to County Road B38, a designated Scenic Byway. We rode 20 miles, enjoying the beautiful Yellow River valley and the early fall colors.
While the majority of motorists were courteous and passed us with care, as to be expected, there were a couple of individuals driving large diesel pick-ups with exhaust pipes large enough to hold a soccer ball who somehow get their jollies by flooring the accelerator as they pass bikers in order to flood them with extreme noise and big clouds of diesel exhaust.
I know this anti-abortion/anti-birth control legislation is religion getting its nose into law. They find Bible verses against abortion, but there’s nothing in the Bible to say you cannot drive your machine as fast as it will go, so they find nothing wrong with the murder and manslaughter that comes from it. The writers didn’t foresee a time when every traveler uses a deadly machine capable of killing other lives, which is something they couldn’t do with horse travel.
