News Center newsletter

Veterans Memorial Hospital will sponsor a Babysitting Seminar Saturday, April 10 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.

The LifeServe Blood Center reported a great number of donors at the March blood drive with 67 total donors and 192 lives impacted due to the generous Waukon Community donations.  In addition, there were three first time donors who attended and one convalescent plasma donor.

The local blood drives continue to be held during COVID-19 since the need for blood does not stop.  Life Serve team members only report to work if they are healthy and only healthy donors are eligible to give blood.   Blood drives are essential medical services and not considered mass gatherings. The number of donors is limited to ensure donor separation and staff has strict cleaning and disinfection schedules. Other measures are also in place to ensure the safety of the blood supply so these lifesaving donations can continue during COVID-19.

Memorials were recently received by the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in memory Delores “Jean” Kroack by Patsy Kerndt, Marv and Marge Strike, Chuck and Lois Votsmier, Mary Ament, Loren Lee Eberling, Mary Ann Hager, Darlene Kaeser, John and Lorna Kerndt, Maury Mooney, Tom and Karen Regan, Jerry and Linda Siegrist and the family of Jean Kroack.

Memorials were also received in memory of Ronald Goeke by Allen and Ella Mae Goeke, Jean Huffey, Ernie and Donnalee Osland, and Jerry and Linda Siegrist.

In addition, memorials were received in memory of Larry White by Dave and Sandy Lyons, Chuck and Lois Votsmier, Cheryl Bollman, Don and DiAnne Haler, Brad and Judy Herman, Robert and Karen Fossum, Helen Johnson, Jerry and Linda Siegrist, Terry and Laurie Welch, Carl and Betty Christianson, Mary Ann Hager, Brad and Erin Berns and the family of Larry White.

To the Editor:

Did you vote in the 2020 election? Were you proud of the excellent jobs our Commissioners of Elections  and poll workers did? Did you know Iowa ranks as one of the top states in election integrity and lowest voter fraud incidences in the nation?

Why, then did our Republican-dominated state government feel the need to enact voter laws that suppress our citizens’ right to vote?

There are presently 250 new bills or laws passed in 43 states that are aimed at voter suppression. Iowa is one of them. They are mostly controlled by the Republican Party. According to data from the Brennan Center for Justice, this is the greatest infringement on citizens’ right to vote since the end of Reconstruction. Seems we are back there again.

To the Editor:

Addiction is a disease that can be hard for the addicted person to explain to their family and friends. Some aspects of addiction are isolation, depression and denial that the dependency exists in the first place.

Addictions and substance abuse disorders still carry too much stigma. There are well-known facts about addiction that scientists agree on. For example, addiction is a disease of the brain. Here are three myths about addiction and recovery that are still very well established in society today:

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
April 9: Quality Loss Adjustment Program
May 15: August 1: Primary Nesting Season
July 15: Crop Certification

Small Grains and Planting into Green Covers Can be the Answer
by LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist
I believe that every farmer I work with wants to be profitable, take care of the soil, water and wildlife and make sure their children and grandchildren can keep farming in the future. How do farmers find profitability with the many different kinds of uncertainty right now, none of which we can control?  

George Beardmore of Dorchester was recently honored for his third-place finish in the 2020 National Corn Grower Association Yield Contest for Iowa with a yield of 300.39 bushels per acre using Pioneer 1366AM. The photo above represents a 68-year history of yield improvement from that same field where this year’s yield award was won and an even longer history of family ties to the same farm.

Harpers Ferry farmer Jon Kruse utilized a unique method of planting cover crops this past fall - a drone. September 16, Kruse hired a private contractor, to fly a drone over standing soybeans to seed red clover as a cover crop.

Aerial cover crop application is growing in popularity across Iowa because of the upsides. A big advantage of aerial seeding is that more acres can be seeded in less time than with ground equipment. Aerial application also allows seeding to be done when it is physically impossible to use ground equipment such as when crops are present, or the soil is too wet for regular equipment.

Veterans Memorial Hospital and Allamakee County Public Health are asking anyone age 65 and older who has not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine to call their office at 563-568-3411 and schedule an appointment. Ask for the COVID line and a staff member will assist the caller in making an appointment to receive the vaccine.

Veterans Memorial Hospital and Allamakee County Public Health have been very busy the last two weeks vaccinating not only those 65 years of age and older, but also all those in manufacturing and ag-related professions after receiving a vaccine allotment designated specifically for those two industries. They are also now encouraging anyone ages 18-64 who has an underlying medical condition to go to the hospital’s website and fill out the form to be placed on the waiting list for the vaccine.

Floods, tornadoes, derecho winds; these are just some of the potential disasters seen throughout the state of Iowa in the past few years, and Allamakee County Emergency Management Coordinator Corey Snitker has to be prepared to deal with those hazards should they strike at the local level.  Now an even more deadly threat confronts the residents of Allamakee County: the virulent COVID-19 pandemic that has caused the death of dozens of residents and sickened hundreds.

That is why Snitker is seeking volunteers to help in disaster preparedness and response to cope with the wide array of natural and man-made disasters that could beset the communities and people of the county. He is being assisted in this recruitment project by AmeriCorps Northeast Iowa RSVP 55+ Initiative in recruiting and matching volunteers’ skills and abilities with the tasks that may be called on to perform in time of emergency.