Red Oak, Iowa – The Iowa Hospital Association has awarded the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital + Clinics (MCMH) Board of Trustees the prestigious three-star award for having 100% of trustees certified in their Hospital Board Certification Program. This is the highest honor given to a board certified in the program. The IHA Hospital Board Certification Program is designed to promote governance best practices and encourage the coordination of care and best use of resources. The program requires new and returning trustees to complete a certification form and 12 hours of continuing board education over a period of two years.

(L-R): Top row: Jill Bergstrom, James Norris and Ann Carder; Bottom Row: Jim Robinson, Kevin Cabbage, Lorin Petersen and Roger Ehmke (Photo Courtesy Michelle Zanders, MCMH Community Relations)

MCMH CEO Ron Kloewer says “This is excellent news. The certification program is a big time commitment and shows true dedication to their office.” Trustees who participate in the program demonstrate to community members that they understand and embrace the need for governance accountability, govern according to standards of excellence, are committed to coordination of resources in our community, embrace community accountability and transparency, and utilize quality and patient safety performance data to identify opportunities for improvement.

The MCMH Board of Trustees include: Kevin Cabbage, Chairman; Lorin Petersen, Vice Chairman; Jim Robinson, Treasurer; Roger Ehmke, Secretary; Jill Bergstrom, Trustee; Ann Carder, Trustee; and James Norris, Trustee. The Board will be honored at the IHA Governance Forum in Des Moines on April 22nd.

(Radio Iowa) – A majority of Iowa remains in dry or drought conditions — but things have improved quite a bit in the last month. The D-N-R’s Tim Hall tracks the water summary. “You compare the drought monitor map from early March to late March — we saw significant improvement. At the beginning of March, about 90 percent of the state was rated in some form of dryness and drought — now we are down to 60 percent,” according to Hall. He says turning things around is not a quick process.  “You have to remember that the drought that we came through last year that we are still kind of working out way of, was so deeply entrenched in that state that it’s just going to take awhile to slowly dig ourselves out of those precipitation deficits we’ve been at,” according to Hall. He says the driest areas start in central Iowa and move east and north.

“Up toward Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, up toward northeast Iowa, sort of that east-central part of the state they’ve had some pretty good rainfall over the last month. Northeast Iowa has been pretty wet, in fact we saw some reductions in the Drought Monitor just in that east-central, northeast Iowa location just in the last week or two,” he says. “So, they’re getting what they need in that part of the state.” There are still some areas to the west that could use more rain as they have D-2 or severe drought. “In Monona and Pottawattamie County in western Iowa, just about two percent of the state. That’s a little bit troubling to see that creep in, because that’s a part of the state where we’ve had some drought challenges in the past,” he says. Hall says the increased rainfall hasn’t caused any problems. 

“We have not seen any substantial flooding this spring, which is a great thing for us not to have. And it kind of indicates that the rain we’ve gotten in addition to getting the right total inches of rain, it’s also come over very slow, long periods of time, and it’s had a chance to soak into the ground. So that part of the precipitation in March has also been really, really helpful,” Hall says. He says everything worked well with the snowmelt as well. “The snowpack was not significant, the snowmelt came very gradually — so really, the timing of the rain and snowfall has been almost ideal,” Hall says.

You can see Iowa’s water resource trends at: www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates for victims of domestic violence and other crimes are urging lawmakers to dedicate more money to assist victims. In 2021, 20 fatalities in Iowa were attributed to domestic violence — the highest level in a decade. Marti (MAR-tee) Anderson of Des Moines was director of Iowa’s Crime Victim Assistance program for 22 years before being elected to the Iowa House in 2012.

“Victim service advocates need special skills, insight and the capacity to help victims recover from physical, emotional, financial and often spiritual trauma,” Anderson says. Anderson says the work is not for volunteers, as it requires special training — and that costs money, but Anderson says state funding for the Crime Victim Services division has been stuck at five MILLION dollars a year since 2016.

“Those $5 million support nearly 100 programs in the state,” Anderson says. “Justice is not served until the victims of crime are served.” Anderson, a Democrat who is not seeking reelection this year, says the state spend 99 percent more on the offenders than it does on victims.

“There is a lot of work to be done to assist crime victims in this state,” Anderson says, “and people who do the work should be paid for it.” Republican lawmakers writing the state budget say they’re reluctant use state money to replace the reduction in federal grant money that has supported the state’s Crime Victim Services program in the past. They say the federal funding glitch will be fixed in a year or two.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would strengthen penalties for crimes against Iowans who are 60 or older has cleared its final legislative hurdle this week. The bill creates new criminal penalties for emotional abuse and neglect of elderly Iowans. Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola says the bill also deals with alleged cases of fraud.

“The bill establishes a crime of financial exploitation of an older individual,” Garrett says, “and this occurs when a person who is in a position of trust abuses that trust to misuse the assets of the older individual.” Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon says in 13 years as a lawyer, he’s seen cases of hucksters and even family members taking advantage of elderly Iowans.

“What this bill does is it says to those people who are looking for vulnerable victims: ‘Not here,'” Hite says. “…When somebody when somebody picks on the most vulnerable of Iowans, they deserve a harsher punishment.”

The bill has been a top priority for A-A-R-P for several years. It won unanimous approval in the House and Senate and is headed to the governor for her approval.

Atlantic, Iowa – Cass Health officials have announced the addition of Emily James, MSN (Master of Science/Nursing), ARNP (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner), FNP-BC (Family Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified), to the team of providers in the Emergency Department and AMC Rapid Care. As a board-certified family nurse practitioner, James will provide care to patients of all ages. A familiar face to many, she has worked in the Cass Health Emergency Department as a nurse since 2017.

Emily James, MSN, ARNP and, FNP-BC

James says , “I always knew I wanted to continue my education. One of the advantages of the healthcare field is the constant learning and continual change. I’ve already had the experience of caring for patients as a nurse, but now as a nurse practitioner, I can provide care to patients on a different level.”

Emily James earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Purdue University Global and is board-certified by The American Nurses Credentialing Center. She received her Associates of Applied Science in Nursing from Southwestern Community College in 2015, and her bachelor’s in 2018 from Purdue University Global. Emily is also a DAISY award nominee; she received nominations in 2016, 2018, and 2019.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s rulings indicate she’s a judicial activist and that’s why he voted “no” today (Thursday) on her nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Her record clearly shows she does not believe in or act within the limited and proper role of a judge,” Grassley said. Grassley was among the handful of senators who gave speeches explaining their votes on Jackson’s nomination right before 53 senators voted to confirm her as the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Grassley says the judicial philosophy of a Supreme Court nominee should be the primary consideration for senators. “Judge Jackson explained to us that she does not ‘hold a position’ on whether individuals possess natural rights. Now that ought to be very shocking,” Grassley says. “Natural rights are basic to our constitutional system and principles of limited government.” Grassley also criticized Jackson for a sentence she handed down in a drug-related case.

“Judges should weigh against the charge, the danger to society, and the risk of recidivism,” Grassley said. “At her hearing, Judge Jackson said that she based her extraordinary and compelling finding on the non-retroactive change in the law. This radical misinterpretation is terrible and dangerous.”

Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Joni Ernst, also opposed to Jackson’s nomination. Three Republicans, an independent and all the Democrats serving in the U.S. Senator voted to confirm Jackson. She’ll be the first black women on the Supreme Court. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn says it’s a historic day for our nation. Wilburn, the first black man to lead a major Iowa political party, says Jackson was masterful in demonstrating her qualifications during her confirmation hearing and will be an exceptional justice.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials plan to close the state-run facility in Glenwood that provides residential care to Iowans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Governor Reynolds and the top two Republicans in the legislature issued a joint written statement, announcing the Glenwood Resource Center will close in 2024. Residents may be transferred to the Woodward Resource Center, but it’s likely the majority will be placed in community-based care.

A U.S. Justice Department report released in December concluded that with the right services, nearly all of the residents at Glenwood could live in community-based settings — and the cost of their care would be less. According to a news release from the governor’s office, employees at the Glenwood Resource Center will be offered bonuses to keep working at the facility during the two-year transition period or get assistance in finding new jobs. After the Glenwood facility closes, Reynolds pledges to work with local officials to find a new use for the campus.

This is the fourth state facility to close in the past decade. Governor Branstad cited difficulty in finding qualified staff as he ordered the state Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant to close in 2015. Branstad ordered the closure of the Iowa Juvenile Home for delinquent girls in 2014 after complaints about how residents were being treated. Governor Reynolds fired the superintendent of the Glenwood Resource Center in late 2019.

The U.S. Justice Department concluded residents had been used as human guinea pigs in sexual arousal experiments.

(Radio Iowa) – A committee chairman says he’s not weighing in on recent challenges to nominating forms from three candidates running for state and federal office — but Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann says the address requirements alongside the signatures on nominating petitions need to be clarified. Last week, a state panel voted to count petition signatures from residents of apartments and college dormitories who did not include their dorm room or unit number — that’s not listed as a requirement on the nominating petition.

“My job is to look at the policy in the Code (of Iowa) and my opinion is the policy in the Code is ambiguous and needs to be fixed,” Kaufmann says. “…It’s not something I’m probably going to dive into with two weeks left in the legislative session, but it is something that I think needs to be addressed before the next primary season, so all candidates of any party have the consistent clarity.”

A central Iowa judge may rule soon on a challenge to three signatures on Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer’s petitions, but THAT legal question revolves around the DATE listed or left off the signature line. Finkenauer would not qualify to be listed on the June Primary ballot if the three signatures being challenged are thrown out.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – In an update to our previous report on arrests and the recovery of stolen property in Mills County, the Sheriff’s Office in Glenwood said they have “Conducted addition[al] search warrants and recovered additional property. If anyone has been the victim of a theft or burglary, [we are asking that you] call [into] the Sheriff’s Office,” at 712-527-4337.

When you call, you will either speak with Lt. Pittman, or Sgt. Mather. You may inquire from them if any of the recovered property may be yours.

• Event Name: NJCAA Rising All-Stars, Council Bluffs
• Event Dates: July 18-21, 2022, and July 2023
• Total Project Budget: $80,000
• Amount Awarded: $26,000