(Radio Iowa) – We’re told social distancing helps save lives, but a new report finds isolation and loneliness can hurt the health of people over age 50 — and Iowa has one of the nation’s oldest populations. Doctor Juliann Sebastian, dean of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, says a solitary lifestyle, void of healthy interactions with friends, can mean a higher risk of depression, heart disease and even death.  “Social isolation and loneliness are each separately associated with health problems — with health outcomes,” Sebastian says, “but together there are correlations between social isolation and loneliness and various causes of mortality or death and various causes of morbidity or illness.”

Data from the U-S Census Bureau finds almost 15-percent of Iowans are 65 or older, the fifth most in the nation, while nearly three-percent of Iowans are 85 or older, the third most in the country. Loneliness is not a one-size-fits-all type of problem and Sebastian says we all need to keep a closer eye on our family, friends and neighbors. “Social isolation and loneliness don’t fit in neatly within our typical health care environment. Those are not typically considered clinical issues,” Sebastian says. “In fact, they really are because of their connection with specific physical and behavioral health outcomes.”

One goal of the report is so that health professionals of all types, as well as direct care worker, know that we should strive to identify people who have problems with social isolation and loneliness.”Not every older adult has these issues and not every person, for example, who lives alone is lonely,” Sebastian says. “We do think it’s very important in the clinical environment for health professionals to assess older adults and determine if these are issues of concern to them and then to connect with people and community organizations that can help.”

More research is needed, she says, to determine some of the most helpful ways to intervene. Sebastian says it’s “stunning” to become more aware of the associations between social isolation and loneliness and health problems — and even mortality. “We all need to be, I think, on the alert for someone who might be lonely and find ways to help,” Sebastian says. “Whether it’s ourselves helping or making a connection, with again, with a community organization that can help.”

The report says for people who are homebound, have no family, or do not belong to community or faith groups, a medical appointment or home health visit may be one of the few social interactions they have. Sebastian serves as dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in Omaha.
(On the web at https://www.nap.edu/read/25663/chapter/1)

Two people were arrested on separate assault charges over the past few days, in Creston. Authorities say on Sunday, 34-year old Trel Peterson, of Creston, was arrested at his home on a Cass County warrant for Assault causing bodily injury.

Trel Peterson

He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond. And, Friday afternoon, 48-year old Aleacha Crocker, of Shenandoah, was arrested for Assault with the Intent to Injure. She was released from the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Summons to Appear in court.

And a woman residing in the 300 block of N. Division Street, in Creston, reported to Police Friday afternoon, that sometime between Noon and 2:30-p.m. Thursday, someone stole a package from outside her residence, that had been delivered by the USPS. The package contained a hooded sweatshirt valued at $80.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Updated 7:38-a.m.) JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — A tornado briefly touched down Monday evening in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston, uprooting trees and damaging traffic signals. The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado (rated an EF-1). The twister in the Johnston area packed winds of up to 95 miles per hour, tracked for 1.6-miles, and was a maximum of 50-yards wide. It began at around 6:26-p.m. and ended three minutes later. No injuries were reported.

In eastern Iowa, winds gusted up to 67 mph in Newton, and high winds Monday night near Luxemburg lifted the roof off a barn and crashed it into another building, causing it to collapse onto a hog nursery building. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports the nursery building then caught on fire, killing 300 hogs inside.

The Weather Service said more severe weather is expected today (Tuesday), with thunderstorms, heavy rain and a chance of tornadoes. The rain could lead to localized flooding.

(Radio Iowa) — A new documentary series explores the consequences of unplanned pregnancies outside of marriage more than a century ago, and it features a true story from Iowa. Colleen Bradford Krantz produced the series called, “Unintended: Unlocking a Nation’s Pregnancy Secrets.” Krantz says one case from 1913 involved a family from the northeast Iowa town of Hopkinton and an incident led to charges being filed. “There was a trial in this story and it actually would’ve happened in Charles City but the old courthouse there was gone,” Krantz says. “Through a lot of searching online, we ended up discovering the old courthouse in Webster City and after taking a look at it, it was the perfect filming location for recreating this trial that happened.”

Krantz says she relied heavily on the local talent pool from the Hamilton County area in recreating what transpired at the courthouse. “We worked with the community theater there to provide us with all the extras in the scenes,” she says. “So, we had them as the jury member and also as the courtroom audience members.”  In addition to supplying trained actors, the community theater was even able to provide those actors with period costumes, which Krantz says was a tremendous help.

The series is being released in stages on the platform Vimeo with more segments coming in June and July. Find a link through Krantz’ website: www.pinkspear.com.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state’s online COVID-19 dashboard (https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/) shows (As of 6:45-a.m. today), 461 deaths have been attributed to the virus since record keeping began two months ago. Figures also showed 134,505 were tested for the virus, 17,644 have tested positive, 116,560 tested negative, and 9,401 had recovered. The most recent numbers were released as the mayors of seven Iowa cities penned an editorial appearing in the Des Moines Register calling on federal officials to approve federal aid for cities.

For Cass and surrounding Counties, the number of positive test results and (the number of recovered), have not changed much over the past three days. Cass County 11 positive cases (1 recovered); Adair County: 8 (3); Adams County: 5 (1); Audubon County: 12 (9); Guthrie County: 43 (29); Montgomery County: 6 (5); Shelby County: 31 (24) and Pottawattamie County: 215 (122).

In RMCC Region 4 (Southwest/western Iowa), seven people are hospitalized for COVID-19, three are in an ICU, and no one was admitted to a hospital. Those figures have also held steady for the past few days.  Across the State, 377 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, 118 are in an ICU, and 33 were admitted over the past 24-hours. There was also another Long-Term Care facility outbreak across the State, bringing the total back up to 37 from the previous figure of 36. The number of deaths at those facilities stands at 244. Patients and staff who’ve tested positive number 1,585. The number recovered is 669.

(Radio Iowa) — The head of the trade association for long-term care facilities in Iowa says 52 percent of nursing home operating income is dependent on Medicaid payments. Brent Willett, President and CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association, says due to Medicaid reimbursement rates, there’s a shortfall.

“The Medicaid system was designed never for facilities to make a dollar on Medicaid. It was designed to cover the cost of an Iowan receiving care, so that facility could do that,” Willet says. “Currently our state share shortfall of Medicaid is about $32 million.” The gap had been larger. Last year, Iowa legislators set aside about 24 MILLION more for nursing home reimbursement.

“At the federal level, our national association continues to lobby congress for additional dollars into the system,” Willet says. Willet made his comment during a weekend appearance on Iowa P-B-S. The recent federal CARES Act temporarily boosted federal Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa congressman Steve King is on the outs with a significant bloc of his long-reliable conservative base, but not for almost two decades of incendiary utterances about abortion, immigrants and Islam. Instead, the nine-term congressman known for his nativist politics is fighting to prove he can still deliver for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. Since Republican leaders stripped him of his committee assignments, King has been dogged by questions over whether he’s lost his effectiveness. King faces a potentially career-ending GOP primary on June 2. But should he eke out victory next week, there are Iowa Republicans who believe it could spell trouble for holding the GOP-heavy district in November.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The meat and poultry industry has historically relied on immigrant labor to do some of the most dangerous jobs in America, from employing refugees to a notorious record of hiring immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Now that reliance and uncertainty about the pandemic is fueling concerns about possible labor shortages to meet demands for beef, pork and chicken. Companies struggling to hire are spending millions on fresh incentives. Whether there’ll be long-lasting difficulties hinge on if employees feel safe, unemployment, industry reforms and President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An employee at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa, died Monday after battling the coronavirus during a six-week hospitalization that was chronicled and widely followed online.Jose Ayala, 44, died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. His friend and co-worker Zach Medhaug says it was painful to watch his friend succumb to the virus. Ayala had received treatment at three hospitals since April 12, and his ups and downs had gained a following on social media in the six weeks since then. Advocates say that Ayala is at least the fifth employee at the Tyson plant in Waterloo to die after contracting the coronavirus.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa saw a surge of COVID-19 deaths and coronavirus cases over a 36-hour period, with 10 additional deaths and 436 new cases confirmed. The state’s online dashboard by midday Monday showed 459 total deaths since the state’s first COVID-19 death two months ago. The state had reported 449 by midday Saturday. Figures also showed 17,555 in total have tested positive for the virus, with 342 of those cases confirmed Sunday and another 94 confirmed by midday Monday. The dashboard showed 9,355 had recovered. The numbers were released as the mayors of seven Iowa cities penned an editorial appearing in the Des Moines Register calling on federal officials to approve federal aid for cities.

(Radio Iowa) – Winnebago Industries has built mobile offices for doctors and dentists and the company’s vice president for strategic planning and specialty vehicles expects mobile units will continue to evolve because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Winnebago’s Ashis Bhattacharya says “There is probably going to be more sensitivity among customers in the mobile medical space for environments that are sterile, that can be easily cleaned and disinfected, that have been air systems and air circulation.”

Bhattacharya says the need for mobile medical vehicles will grow in the coming years as more clinics and hospitals close and so-called “medical deserts” develop across the country. Winnebago’s R-Vs can also make expensive medical equipment mobile. He says the company has designed a vehicle to transport a C-T scan machine that weighed two-and-a-half tons.

“We were able to find a way to put that machine on the shell; have it balanced properly; have it leveled; have the right kind of power, temperature, humidity, air conditioning, power back-up,” he says, “and that’s being used for things like early lung cancer screenings.” A converted Winnebago View now serves as a mobile medical unit at a family health clinic in Kansas City. It is being used as the region’s first COVID-19 drive thru testing site.

A hospital based in Hartfod, Connecticut is using a converted 40-foot Winnebago as a mobile testing site. The White House Coronavirus Task Force is partnering with the R-V Industry Association to produce and deliver 20 more of these sorts of units and Winnebago is part of that effort. Some of Winnebago’s mobile medical units are equipped for blood drives and to serve as a hub for outreach to opioid addicts.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An employee at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa, died Monday after battling the coronavirus during a six-week hospitalization that was chronicled and widely followed online.Jose Ayala, 44, died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. His friend and co-worker Zach Medhaug says it was painful to watch his friend succumb to the virus.

Ayala had received treatment at three hospitals since April 12, and his ups and downs had gained a following on social media in the six weeks since then. Advocates say that Ayala is at least the fifth employee at the Tyson plant in Waterloo to die after contracting the coronavirus.