Sheriff’s officials in Adams County report the arrest late Saturday night, of a Union County man. 33-year old Justin Robertson, of Creston, was taken into custody at around 11-p.m., on Possession of a Controlled Substance and OWI/1st Offense, charges. Robertson was being held in the Adams County Jail on $1,500 bond.

A celebration was held Saturday in Carroll, for the grand opening of the “Freedom House.” It’s a half-way house for veterans who’re suffering from alcoholism or post-traumatic stress. Randy Riesberg, an army veteran from Carroll, says the inspiration came from a conversation with a fellow veteran who went to Des Moines for help. “He was telling me one time on the phone, he says: ‘If we had a halfway house up there, I think I could get the hang of being sober,'” Riesberg says.

The new half-way house in Carroll is a place for recovering veterans to stay and heal, according to Riesberg. “As a veteran of the military, I couldn’t ever talk about what I had done, so these guys will be able to sit around the table and chat with each other on what’s bothering them,” Riesberg says. Up to eight men at a time will be able to stay at the Freedom House. No alcohol will be allowed. “And hopefully they will get clean and sober and stay clean and sober,” Riesberg says.

Riesberg will manage the house. A lawyer from Carroll still owns the property, but is donating its use as a halfway house. For more information, call Riesberg at 712-790-3481.

(Radio Iowa)

Open-heart surgery is no longer the only option for Iowans with an irregular heartbeat. A hospital in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area is the first in either state to offer a new alternative procedure. Cardiologist Dr. John Scherschel says the surgery corrects irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation. “Atrial fibrillation is a huge problem and it becomes more common as people age,” Dr. Scherschel says. “The stroke risk goes up considerably, it’s five-fold higher in patients with atrial fibrillation than those without.”

The procedure, called LARIAT, involves two small incisions to insert a catheter into the heart. It takes about an hour.  “Most patients will be able to go home the next day or the day after that, it’s at longest a two-day hospitalization,” Scherschel says. “With open heart surgery, it can be several days to weeks with recovery requiring weeks to months, depending on the kind of procedure.” Scherschel believes the technique will become standard treatment eventually, but for now, the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha is among only a few hospitals in the nation that are using it.  “When I saw this technique described in the scientific literature back in 2009, I said we need to be doing that because that’s the right way to do this,” he says.

Marc Leger of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, recently had the procedure done in Omaha and says he constantly lived with the threat of stroke.
“Being in my early 60s, I’m glad I got that procedure done now and it’s something I’m going to hopefully live into my 90s and 100s with that,” Leger says.  LARIAT was recommended for Leger as it’s minimally-invasive and blocks stroke-causing blood clots from traveling to the brain. He was able to leave the hospital in a few days with just a Band-Aid covering his tiny incision.  

(Radio Iowa)