News Center newsletter

May 6-12 is National Nurse’s Week. The nursing staff at Veterans Memorial Hospital is all state licensed professionals with specialized training in advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support, trauma nurse core curriculum, and neonatal resuscitation provider course. They are committed to providing optimal care of patients and their loved ones by creating the best healthcare experience when caring for their friends and neighbors.

There are many levels of care offered by the hospital’s nursing staff including inpatient acute, skilled, observation, monitored cardiac, respite/courtesy care, surgical, home health, hospice and outpatient infusion therapy. These various levels are observed throughout the many nursing departments such as Surgery, Maternity Services, Emergency, Inpatient, Outpatient and Cardiac/Pulmonary.

A generous donation of $5,000 was recently received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation from Croell Redi-Mix in support of the new Waukon Medical Clinic. The renovations to the clinic are now complete and the clinic is open for appointments. Pictured above, left to right, at the Croell Redi-Mix plant in Waukon are Bill Blake, Tanner Hartema and Luke Howard, all representing Croell, with Craig Lensing, Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation Director. Appointments are now being scheduled by calling the new clinic phone number of 563-568-5530. Donations are still being accepted by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation. All gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible. Submitted photo.

COVID Walk-In Vaccination Primary/First Dose Schedule for Allamakee County: Allamakee County Public Health is holding weekly vaccination clinics Friday afternoons for both prime and boost doses for Moderna. Currently, Johnson and Johnson one dose vaccine is also available. These clinics are held at the main entrance to Veterans Memorial Hospital. Call 563-568-5660 to schedule.

The COVID Vaccination Booster/Second Dose Schedule at Veterans Memorial Hospital is as follows:

5/13/21 - Booster (second) doses for all those who received the Moderna primary (first) immunization 4/15/21, from 8-10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

5/24/21 - Booster (second) doses for all those that received the Moderna primary (first) immunization at the walk-in clinic in Lansing at Immaculate Conception Church basement April 26. Boosters will be given May 24 from 9 a.m.- Noon at the same location.

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

Blood centers across the United States see a decrease in blood donations during the busy summer months. During the summer, people become more active, have busier schedules, spend more time outdoors and take vacations. While donations decline, hospitals actually see an increase in the need for blood. More driving during the summer months can mean more automobile accidents. A person who has suffered severe injuries from an automobile accident can need up to 50 units of blood.

Geneva (Wilke) Rice will be celebrating her 100th birthday May 17. Geneva was born in Postville in 1921 and graduated from high school there in 1938. Her parents were Wilbert Wilke and Anna (Miller) Wilke. She was married to Glen Rice from Waukon for 30 years. Their son, Don,  and his wife, Mary, are college professors in Moorhead, MN.

Genny is known for her beautiful paintings and drawings, which she still does when she can. She has two grandchildren, Anna Dearth and Sarah Rice, who along with their parents are looking forward to celebrating her birthday with her May 17, according to guidelines of Good Samaritan Society-Waukon, where she resides.

In honor of the milestone occasion, cards and well wishes may be sent to her at Good Samaritan Society, 21 East Main Street, Waukon, IA 52172.

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
May 15-August 1: Primary Nesting Season
July 15: Crop Certification

Soil Biology Important at Planting
by LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist
Since we are in the middle of the planting season, I wanted to discuss the importance of soil biology to an emerging plant. Soil with good biology will include bacteria, fungi and other microscopic organisms. If a plant emerges in soil that does not have good biology it will send roots out searching for it, which could take 10-14 days. If there is good biology in the soil, the plant would begin to immediately absorb nutrients generated from the biology and put that energy towards growth and reproduction.

Annual forages can provide flexibility when managing forage supply, whether filling forage production gaps or serving as a primary forage source.

Learn more about annual forages and integrating them into a cropping rotation in a virtual field day set for June 3 beginning at 8:30 a.m., hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

“We’ve seen an interest from producers wanting to integrate both cool and warm season annual forages into their farming operation,” said Erika Lundy, beef specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach. “However, many questions still remain regarding which forage species is best for a given situation or farm goal as well as their nutritional value and yield potential.”

With planting season underway, drivers should expect to encounter slow moving equipment

Favorable weather in the forecast has farm equipment and motorists back on Iowa’s roadways, and with that combination comes the need for patience and caution.

“Every year there are thousands of collisions between motor vehicles and farm machinery on our rural roads,” said Steven Freeman, professor in agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University.

The most common incidents occur when an approaching motorist hits a farm vehicle from behind or when a passing motorist hits a farm vehicle that is attempting to make a wide left turn, according to Freeman, who authored a handy guide called “Sharing Rural Roads.”

Additional information is also available in the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach publication “Safely Sharing the Road with Farm Vehicles.”

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Medical Clinic is now open, offering primary family health care to the entire northeast Iowa area with the opening of its doors for the first time Monday, May 3. The new clinic is located in the former Mayo Clinic building on East Main Street in Waukon, with Mayo Clinic having ceased operations in Waukon in December 2019.

Renovation of the clinic building began in January of this year and was completed in April. The building now meets the privacy and technology needs required by rural health care clinics today.

“Now, with both the Gundersen Clinic and VMH Waukon Clinic, northeast Iowa has the access to primary health care they need and deserve,” VMH officials shared.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

People who live near the Upper Mississippi River in northeast Iowa tend to know a lot about that river.

They know about its long (and, increasingly, long-ago) history of commercial fishing, and many of them have their own favorite fishing spots among the great river’s “lakes” and backwaters; their local media provides river levels throughout the season, alongside other news and informational reports. They think of the first barge the way other people think of the first robin - as a sure sign that spring has arrived.

But here’s a fact even many river town dwellers may not know: The Guinness World Record for paddling by canoe the 2,300-mile length of the Mississippi River is 18 days, four hours and 51 minutes - set in 2003, by Bob Bradford and Clark Eid.