State health officials have landed a large federal grant to help improve the lives of people with disabilities. The 900-thousand dollar C-D-C grant will focus on reducing health disparities for Iowans with disabilities in a host of ways. Lonnie Cleland, a program director at the Iowa Department of Public Health, says more than one in ten Iowans have a disability. Cleland says, “We ultimately want to be able to include people with disabilities in Iowa in local public health promotion activities and then identify sources of financial assistance to help lower-income people get access to services.”

That assistance could include things like housing, building an access ramp or getting a health issue diagnosed. He says the goal of the grant is to promote and maximize health, prevent chronic disease, and increase the quality of life for Iowans with disabilities.
“What we want to do with this grant is get folks at the table who can write disabilities into their policies,” Cleland says. “It could be ramps. It could be falls prevention. It could be brain injury groups. It could be any sort of disability groups.”

More than 336-thousand Iowans have some kind of disability which is more than 11-percent of the population. For Iowans over 65 years of age, more than 33-percent have a disability. Cleland says most people don’t realize how many Iowans have a handicap. “We may see that the parking space for the disabled is empty at QuikTrip and so we wonder, ‘Well, who uses that? Do they really need that?’ Yes, they do need that. There’s a greater proportion of the population than we readily think of.”

About 38-percent of people with disabilities rank their health as fair-to-poor compared to just six-percent of those without disabilities. Iowa is among 18 states getting the grants. The state health department will work with local public health agencies and the University of Iowa Center for Disabilities and Development to target health disparities for Iowans with disabilities. Access to spiritual, recreational, community and civic activities will also be targeted. The grant will also promote personal emergency preparedness planning for individuals and family caregivers of those with disabilities.

(Radio Iowa)

ADEL, Iowa (AP) – Dallas County has started a waiting list for some mental health services, hoping to stretch its budget so it can meet residents’ most vital needs.  Community Services Director Darci Alt expects more than 600 people will obtain mental health services through the county this year.  Alt told The Des Moines Register that, “with the downturn in the economy, financial problems and job loss are causing people to have more crisis situations.”

Alt says the waiting list will not affect therapy services, but there will be limited access to transportation, day programming, community living and employment services. The waiting list will affect an estimated 30 percent of the county’s patients. The overall number could increase if more people seek services.

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Lottery officials say someone who bought a Powerball ticket in suburban Des Moines has won $1 million.   The lottery said in a news release Sunday night that the ticket matched five of the six Powerball numbers drawn Saturday night: 8, 11, 21, 44 and 49. The ticket didn’t match the Powerball number of 22, so the buyer didn’t win the $80 million Powerball prize.  The ticket was sold at a Hy-Vee store on Douglas Avenue in Urbandale.  The lottery says it’s the sixth $1 million-winning ticket sold since the $2 Powerball began in January.

Authorities in Montgomery County says a Red Oak man was arrested Sunday morning. Officers with the Red Oak Police Department took 32-year-old Michael Wayne Parsley into custody at around 8:30-a.m., on a valid police department felony warrant for forgery. Parsley was being held in the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on $5,000 bond.