News Center newsletter

by Jill Fleming, MS, RD
Dietitian at Veterans Memorial Hospital
 
Successful people develop routines so they can reduce friction in their lives and focus on what they do best. For example: Steve Jobs wore a daily uniform of a black turtleneck, blue jeans and white sneakers. His goal was to make as few daily decisions as necessary, as he had too many other important decisions to make. This simple routine clearly paid off, as he made the company Apple very successful.

Another habit of super successful people, according to Forbes, is that they utilize the early morning hours to exercise. Early rising is a common trait found in many CEOs, government officials and other influential people such as: Margaret Thatcher, Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Iger (the CEO of Disney). If you are planning to make some positive changes to your life, the best way to start each day is with a “Morning Routine for Success.”

For many Iowans, understanding Medicare and related health insurance can be confusing and overwhelming, asking themselves questions like, Where do I start? What are my options? Am I making the right decision? What will it cost me? Is there help if I can’t afford my insurance? If I’m still working do I have to sign up for Medicare?

Trained Iowa Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) volunteers can help answer these and other questions about navigating health care insurance options for Iowans on Medicare. SHIIP is a free health insurance counseling service of the State of Iowa Insurance Division sponsored locally by Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.

Veterans Memorial Hospital, together with Helping Services of Northeast Iowa, will begin offering the ‘Baby and Me - The Basics’ class Tuesday evening, March 14, from 5-8:30 p.m. in the hospital’s Large Conference Room.

Helping Services’ Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians Barb Fjelstul and Rachel Weber will teach the basics of how to correctly secure children in their car seat and getting the seat secured in the vehicle. Barb Fjelstul, also a breast-feeding educator, will guide participants through the challenges and rewards of breast-feeding and provide techniques to ensure baby is getting the most benefit from nursing.

The local Grief Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon Tuesday, March 14 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 group meets the second Tuesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital.
 

Gayle and Carol (Haas) Decker of Waukon are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple married March 3, 1973 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Waukon. A small family gathering is planned to celebrate the occasion.

Their family includes children, Kyle (Kim) Decker of Fairfax, Kelly (Dan) Stepan of Waukon and Craig (Colbey) Decker of Green Bay, WI. Grandchildren are Sydney Grissel, Jack Decker, Kamryn Grissel, CiAnne Robinson, Ryann Decker, Izzy Decker, Milan Decker, Noah Decker and Nicholas Decker.

Jim and Mary (Sweeney) Nagel of Waukon are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with family. They were married February 23, 1963 at St. Mary’s Lycurgus Church, rural Waukon.

They have five children, Darcy (Joe) Welsh, Deb (DJ) Regan, Vicky (Herb) Behrend, Jim (Connie) Nagel and Jody (Bob) Regan; six granddaughters, Leah, Marissa, Miranda, Nicole, Hailey and Audrey; and 11 grandsons, Matt, Mark, Seth, Cody, Josh, Bill, Alex, Brent, Blake, Brandon and Joe; in addition to 10 great-grandchildren.

Blake Holly and Alyea Koozer of McGregor announce the birth of their daughter, Lennox Lynette Holly, born February 18, 2023 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 ozs. and measured 19-1/2 inches in length at the time of her birth.

Grandparents are Laurie and Kenneth Koozer and Crystal and Scott Hughes. Great-grandparents are Janet Koozer, Randy and Julie Bloxham, and Phillip Fowler.

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
March 15: ARCPLC Sign-up

Farm Loan Presence in Allamakee County
The USDA/FSA Farm Loan team will have a Loan Officer in our office every Tuesday during normal business hours (8-4:30). If you would like to visit with the loan officer, please call or stop in.

Rolling Out Revenue Based Disaster, Pandemic Assistance Programs
Beginning January 23, 2023, agricultural producers can now apply for two new important programs for revenue losses, from 2020 and 2021 natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic. Both programs equitably fill gaps in earlier assistance.

First, you may be eligible for assistance through the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two if you experienced revenue losses from eligible natural disasters in 2020 and 2021. ERP Phase Two is for producers who didn’t receive assistance from ERP Phase One.   

To the Editor:

The cities of Lansing and New Albin have received proposals to install automated speed enforcement cameras. These cameras are nothing but a revenue generator with minimal public safety impact, and they violate multiple aspects of a citizen’s right to due process, as protected by multiple amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Speed cameras send motorists a ticket at least a week after the violation occurred, which does nothing to stop the behavior in the moment. Proponents may argue that the most public safety impact is seen through the local drivers who become accustomed to the cameras. However, when discussing the localities of offenders cited in New Albin, the chief of police stated, “90% of the vehicles are those passing threw [sic].” If we install these cameras on the off chance that the 10% of local speeders might slow down, we are engaged in the very definition of a minimal public safety impact.

To the Editor:

America! America’s Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, declared this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (mankind) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Its author, America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, also wrote, “God who gave us life also gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is a just God, that his justice cannot sleep forever!”