Health

Veterans Memorial Hospital will be offering a variety of free health tests and education at the 2017 Allamakee County Fair. Testing and educational materials will change daily and will include the following schedule:

· Wednesday, July 19, 6-9 p.m. - Massages by Veterans Memorial Hospital certified massage therapists Edna Wyninger and Shannen Mezera.
· Thursday, July 20, 4-8 p.m. - Free blood sugar and diabetes testing by Teresa Myers, RN, Certified Diabetes Educator and Angie Mettille, R.N. of the Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Department.
· Friday, July 21, 4-8 p.m. - Free Hemoglobin testing by the Veterans Memorial Hospital Laboratory Department.
· Saturday, July 23, 4-8 p.m. - “Screen Time: How Much is Too Much?” by Steven Breitenfield, Speech Therapist at Veterans Memorial Hospital.
· Sunday, July 23, Noon-4 p.m. - Free blood pressure checks by the Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care Nurses.

by Karen Collins, MS, RD and CD - American Institute for Cancer Research

Q: Over the winter I started including bean-based dishes in meals more often, but what can I do with beans in warm weather beyond endless bowls of three-bean salad?

A: You’ve found a great way to expand your plant foods repertoire with bean dishes. Dried beans - kidney, black, navy, garbanzo and many more - offer great nutrition at a low price and are flexible enough to include in a wide variety of dishes. Perhaps during cold weather you enjoyed them in casseroles and hearty soups and chili, but beans are great additions to warm weather meals, too.

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital will be holding its monthly Euchre Marathon for all individuals of the community interested Thursday, July 20. Men and women are welcome to attend, even if not an Auxiliary member. The Euchre marathons are held the third Thursday of each month at the Senior Citizens Room at the Waukon Wellness Center.

The Auxiliary’s Euchre Marathons begin at 11:30 a.m. with dinner, if chosen. Contact Northland Agency on Aging at 877-838-8077 if choosing to eat dinner. Card playing will follow at 12:30 p.m. until approximately 2:30 p.m. Anyone wishing to stay and play cards following the Senior Citizens meal is more than welcome to do so. The cost is $3 per person with all proceeds going towards the Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital. Prizes will be awarded.

Anyone interested in attending, but preferring to play Bridge, is also welcome to join in. It is asked that they come with their own table of four players, however.

The local Grief Support Group will hold its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital Wednesday, July 12 at 2 p.m. 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 Wednesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital.
 

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Support Group will not hold a regular meeting during the month of July. The group will begin holding its regular monthly meetings again in August.

For more information on the Diabetes Support Group, call Teresa Myers, RN, Diabetes Educator, at Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.

Memorials were recently received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in memory of Marjorie Hemme by Laura Duvel and the Keith Kerr Family, and in memory of Jim and Kelly Bristol by Bob and Marilyn Bulman and Kay Zimmerman.

Memorials were also received in memory of Helen Dixon by Chuck and Lois Votsmier, and in memory of Joyce Haas by Ken and Rose Beardmore, Bernard Welsh and  Dave and Laurie Martin.

Memorials are greatly appreciated by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation.

The Foundation is a 501C3 organization. All donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.

Memorials and donations can be sent to Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation, 40 First Street SE, Waukon, IA  52172.

Food borne illness peaks in the summer. Why? Because bacteria that is present throughout the environment and in the bodies of people and animals grows faster in the warm summer months. And, outdoor activities increase. More people are cooking outside, without the safety controls of a kitchen.

Steven Perkins, D.O., family physician at Mayo Clinic Health System - Franciscan Healthcare in Waukon, recommends following these simple steps to avoid food borne illness:

Adequate hydration is important all the time, but with increasing temperatures and higher humidity, it is crucial to stay well hydrated.

According to ­­­­­­­­­­­Erica Krause-Wagner, NP, Family Medicine nurse practitioner at the Gundersen Lansing Clinic, “Water plays a role in regulating body temperature, removing waste, cushioning joints and protecting your tissues and organs. Water makes up about sixty percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. Without water, the body will start to shut down after about a week, and it will become extremely difficult to sustain life.”

Krause-Wagner says a good way to determine if you are well hydrated is to check the color of your urine to determine your hydration level. If the color of your urine looks like the color of apple juice (dark), that is an indication that you are dehydrated. If the color of your urine looks more like the color of lemonade (light), that indicates proper hydration.

Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon will be offering a variety of free health tests and education at the 2017 Allamakee County Fair, July 19-23. Testing and educational materials will change daily.

Children and adults are welcome to participate in the trivia questions concerning sun safety and “Screen Time: How Much is Too Much.”  Displays and handouts will also be available on these two popular topics.

Free blood sugar and diabetes tests will be offered Thursday, July 20, 4-8 p.m. by Teresa Myers, R.N., Certified Diabetes Educator, and Angie Mettille, RN, both of the Veterans Memorial Hospital Diabetes Department.

Since the national guidelines continue to change, lowering the blood sugar’s normal range, Veterans Memorial Hospital feels it is very important to reach out to the community to continue to offer these screenings to try to catch anyone with a borderline or high blood sugar as early as possible.

The next local LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Thursday, July 6 from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. Blood drives are held every month in Waukon, allowing for more donors to give. LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

Anyone who lives to the age of 72 will have a 95% probability of needing blood or blood products at sometime in their life, so blood donors are greatly needed.

Regular blood donors may donate blood as often as every 56 days. First-time donors will find that donating blood is a safe and easy way to save lives and make a difference in the community. One single blood donation can save the lives of up to three sick or injured hospital patients. An average of 90% of first-time donors give at blood drives in their community. This is a great opportunity for first-time donors to see how easy the blood donation process is.

The donation process is simple: