News Center newsletter

November is National Home Care Month. Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care offers adults the assistance they need to remain living in their homes, as long as possible.

Registered nurses and trained home care aides travel the Allamakee County and surrounding area offering nursing care and in-home assistance to people of all ages. They offer a variety of services including nursing visits, medication set-up and administration, dressing cares, IVs, catheter and colostomy cares, oversee rehabilitation in-home programs, and personal cares.  RN staff is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to the American Association for Cancer Research, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women. Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke causes more than 480,000 deaths in the U.S. every year.

It’s not too late to quit using tobacco. No matter your age or how long you have been smoking, quitting improves your health immediately and even more over in the long term.

Respiratory Therapist Connor Meyer at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) can also help. Connor has smoking cessation materials available for the public to help them get started in their journey to quit smoking. For more information, contact the Veteran Memorial Hospital’s Respiratory Therapy Department at 563-568-3411, Ext. 258.

You have until December 7, 2024 to enroll in or change Medicare drug plans for 2025. Don’t wait until the last minute. Remember, if you’re on Medicare and don’t have drug coverage, or the coverage you have is not as good as Medicare’s, you will face a penalty for each month you delay enrolling.  

If you have questions about Medicare drug coverage call your local SHIIP counselors at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) at 563-568-3411. Both SHIIP Volunteers Nancy Schoh and Jim Johnson are trained and available to meet individually with anyone in the community who wishes to compare the Medicare Part D plans available for 2025.  Appointments are required.  Feel free to call Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411 to schedule your appointment. You will need to bring your Medicare card, current Part D plan card and a list of your medications from your pharmacy. SHIIP is a free, confidential service of the State of Iowa.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital Medical Clinic-Postville announces a new provider line-up, ensuring there is a provider in the Postville Clinic each weekday.

Alex Berns, Nurse Practitioner, a Postville native, has begun seeing patients in Postville each Monday during regular clinic hours, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  He has been providing family medicine in the Waukon Clinic for the last two years and now has expanded that care to Postville.

Berns began his career at Veterans Memorial Hospital as a C.N.A., then continued as a full-time nurse after receiving his RN degree.  After branching out and gaining experience in Hospice, Emergency, the ICU in Rochester, MN, and general inpatient care, he returned to his home area two years ago to serve his community.

Carole Alderdyce of Iowa City will be celebrating her 90th birthday November 22.

In honor of this milestone birthday, cards and well wishes may be sent to her at 21 Camborne Circle, Iowa City, IA 52245.

Baxter and Rachel Pufahl of Monona announce the birth of their son, Milo John Pufahl, born November 7, 2024 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. He weighed 10 lbs. 3 ozs. and measured 22 inches in length at the time of his birth. He joins siblings, Mason (5) and Mavis (3).

Grandparents are Bob and Cheryl Bjerke of Waukon and Chris and Kim Pufahl of Mauston, WI. Great-grandparents are Sharon Pufahl and Bob Franke, both of Mauston, WI.

For the last few weeks at church, I have been preaching through Luke 21, which records Jesus’ teaching on the end times. It can be scary to consider how similar our world is to that prophesied description.

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
November 28: Office closed in observance of Thanksgiving
November 29: Deadline to apply for the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP)
December 2: Deadline to return COC ballots to FSA Office
December 15: Deadline to certify fall-seeded crops - Note: Although cover crops can be reported at any time, we encourage you to do it this fall (2024)

The 2024 Waukon football season turned in overall season results not seen by the program in 10 years, but ultimately ended up where every team strives to be for the eighth consecutive season. Playing to its first losing record, 3-6, since the 2014 season that also yielded a 3-6 end result, this year’s grid Tribe also snapped a six-season streak of District Championships for the program, but ultimately qualified for the Class 2A State Play-Offs for the eighth consecutive season and for the 11th time in the past 13 seasons, since joining the Class 2A ranks of district competition.

Sylbert “Bert” Arleen Holly, 87 years old, of Jesup, formerly of Harpers Ferry, died Thursday, November 14, 2024, at Oak Park Estates in Cedar Falls. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, November 20 at the American Lutheran Church, Jesup, with burial at St. Athanasius Cemetery in Jesup.

Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m., Tuesday, November 19 at the White Funeral Home in Jesup and will continue for an hour before services Wednesday at the church. Memorials may be directed to the family.

Sylbert was born January 16, 1937, in Luana, the daughter of Paul Kunkat and Alice (Smith) Kunkat. She graduated from high school in Harmony, MN, with the class of 1955. During high school she participated in band, vocal and drama and was also a nanny for a couple of kids she adored. With the money saved from being a nanny she went on to become an RN graduating in 1958 from the Methodist Kahler School of Nursing.