News Center newsletter

LaVonne Winters Brandt, 84, of Frankville died Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at Aase Haugen Home Memory Care in Decorah. Funeral services were held Monday, March 18 at Frankville Presbyterian Church with Rev. Gary Catterson officiating. Burial was at Frankville Cemetery.

LaVonne Sophia Winters Brandt was born July 6, 1934 in Waukon, the daughter of Leonard and Minnie (Flage) Snitker. She attended Ludlow country schools and September 27, 1950 she married LeRoy Winters in Winneshiek County. To this union, five children were born: Gary, Cindy, Peggy, Bonnie and Deloris. In August of 1974, LeRoy passed away.

December 28, 1974, LaVonne married Wayne Brandt at Frankville Presbyterian Church and with this union, she gained three more daughters: Karen, Karlene and Konnie. Wayne was the love of her life and passed away in April of 2003.

Helen Inga (Lovstuen) Olson, age 90, of Decorah died suddenly Sunday, March 10, 2019 of kidney and heart failure at the Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah. Funeral services were held at Glenwood Lutheran Church, rural Decorah Monday, March 18 with Rev. Stacey Nalean-Carlson officiating. Interment was at Glenwood East Cemetery, Decorah.

Helen was born September 9, 1928 to Inga (Ehrie) and Helmer Lovstuen at their farm (established 1854) in Glenwood Township, Winneshiek County. She was baptized and confirmed at Glenwood Lutheran Church. Helen attended Glenwood #5 (Lee) country school and graduated from Decorah High School as valedictorian of the Class of 1947. She worked for Attorney Shea as a secretary until she married.

September 25, 1949, she married Vernon Thomas Lien Olson at Glenwood Lutheran Church with Rev. Norman Dversdahl officiating. They farmed with her parents and purchased the family farm in 1955 where they raised their seven children.

Gary L. Larson, 76, of Waterloo, died Saturday, March 16, 2019 at Rosewood Estate in Waterloo. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, March 21 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Waterloo with burial at 10 a.m. Friday, March 22 at Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Wexford.

Public visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 at Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup Funeral Service on West Ridgeway Avenue in Waterloo, where there will be a 7 p.m. vigil. Visitation will continue for one hour before services at the church Thursday. Memorials may be directed to Cedar Valley Hospice or the church.

Gary was born July 8, 1942 in Waterloo, the son of Clarence George and Lorena Opal Petersen Larson. He married Alice Marie Mullarkey May 20, 1972 at Wexford. She died August 31, 2004. Gary served in the U.S. Army and was employed with John Deere for 38 years, retiring in 2000.

Theron Krambeer, 58, of New Albin died Friday, March 1, 2019 at his home in New Albin. Visitation will be held from 2-6 p.m. Saturday, March 23 at the New Albin Community Center, New Albin.

Theron was born February 25, 1961 to Merlin Gene and Margaret (O’Hanley) Krambeer in Winthrop, MA. He graduated from Kee High School in Lansing with the Class of 1978.

Theron was united in marriage with Karla Halverson, and they later divorced. Theron worked as a Mechanic and Machinist for Trane Co. and Sebring Enterprise. He loved working on cars, motorcycles and anything with a motor.

By Jill Fleming MS, RD/LD
Veterans Memorial Hospital Dietitian

Sure, you can lose weight quickly. There are plenty of fad diets that work to shed pounds fast, leaving you feeling hungry and deprived.  The problem is that most people can only follow these restrictive diets for a short time, eventually going back to their old way of eating. I call this the “diet roller coaster”.

Instead of starting a restrictive diet, which lowers your metabolism, why not adopt a few new choices that can turn into lifelong habits?  The weight you lose with new habits is more likely to be permanent.

Here are 10 of my favorite proven habits to promote weight loss:

The Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation recently purchased a radio communication upgrade for the hospital. The purchase included 20 pagers and six handheld radios replacing outdated equipment, making a much more reliable paging system. Many of the Foundation members are pictured here with just a few of the radios and pagers recently purchased which have greatly helped improve the communication not only with the hospital and the ambulances, but also majorly improving communications with the Sheriff’s Department and other area ambulance services. Pictured in the front row, left to right, are Foundation members Nancy Schoh, Kevin Stinn, Nona Sawyer and Jane Dietrich. Back row, left to right, are Craig Lensing, Breanna Sommer, Amy Cote’, Diane Butikofer, RN, Emergency Services, Kevin Hanson, Dan Denk, Gail Prestemon and Bev Larson-Needham. The Foundation allocated these funds from the numerous memorials they welcome and receive on a regular basis. Submitted photo.
 

Veterans Memorial Hospital will again be offering a pain control presentation for the public March 13 and March 14. Dr. Dave Schwartz will be hosting these informative pain control presentations which will both detail the two new pain control options he offers at Veterans Memorial Hospital. Both presentations will include the same information, but are being offered on two different days at different times to try to suit more schedules.

The Wednesday, March 13 presentation will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in the Large Conference Room located on the lower level of Veterans Memorial Hospital. The Thursday, March 14 presentation will begin at 10 a.m. and will also be held in the hospital’s Large Conference Room.

Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon is seeing an increasing number of patients with the influenza virus. The Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care public health department is sharing the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to alert the community about what to do if they do contract the flu virus and how to prevent spreading it.

FLU SYMPTOMS
Influenza (also known as flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by flu viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Flu is different from a cold. Flu usually comes on suddenly. People who are sick with flu often feel some or all of these symptoms:

When a person is diagnosed with a chronic illness, a lot of focus and attention is put on how to keep that person as independent and as healthy as possible. When a person loses some of their abilities to care for themselves the burden of care is often assumed by the spouse, a child (or children), or sometimes friends and neighbors. While everyone who becomes a caregiver handles the added responsibility with different skill sets, attitudes, and understanding levels, there is no question that there is a very real strain associated with care giving.

Recent studies have estimated that the stress caused just by becoming the caregiver of an adult with a chronic illness or disability will take seven years off of a persons’ life. With more and more Iowans aging, this is a real concern in our community.

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital will be holding its monthly Euchre Marathon for all individuals of the community interested  Thursday, March 21. 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. Call 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. All proceeds go 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.