(Radio Iowa) – A Facebook post led to a Florida woman being flown to Sioux City for potentially lifesaving surgery that had been canceled due to the Covid surge in Florida. Jac E. Chace has colon cancer. Surgery to remove part of her colon had been scheduled at a hospital in Panama City, Florida, last Monday, but Grant Wittstruck, Chace’s son, says the hospital is now just dealing with Covid and trauma patients.

“My mother has Stage 3, possible Stage 4 colon cancer and needed to have a large section of her colon removed and, you know, it’s a lifesaving surgery,” he says. “They deem as elective and they couldn’t do it in Florida.”

Wittstruck says out of frustration, he wrote about the situation on Facebook. One of his former Morningside College classmates saw it. Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto works at MercyOne in Sioux City and connected Wittstruck with the Sioux City hospital’s chief medical officer, who specializes in that very type of surgery.

Wittstruck family. (KSCJ photo)

“Out of the kindness of her heart, she sent me a private message,” Wittstruck says. “She sent me a private message and she did not have to do that. She could have just kept scrolling on our feed and she took the time to ask us to come here and it could possibly end up saving my mom’s life.” Chace flew to Sioux City Wednesday and her surgery was last Friday. Her son says if more people were vaccinated, the trip wouldn’t have been necessary.

“It’s time to get vaccinated,” he says. “…There’s no reason not to get vaccinated, but if you do get Covid after you’ve been vaccinated, the symptoms are significantly less, you’re not necessarily ending up in the ICU.”

Wittstruck is a 2008 graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City and Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto — MercyOne’s communications director and the one who acted on Wittstruck’s post — graduated in 2006. Whittstruck’s dad is also a Morningside graduate and his mom, the cancer patient, posted a brief statement on Morningside’s Facebook page, thanking “all the people and prayers” that made her surgery possible.

(Radio Iowa) 0 A young woman from northwest Iowa was crowned the new Iowa State Fair Queen over the weekend. Eighteen-year-old Plymouth County Fair Queen McKenna Henrich, from Akron, was presented the new title during a ceremony Saturday night at the fairgrounds in Des Moines. Henrich says she’s thrilled by the honor and is ready to get started.

“Now that I’m in this position, I’m not just going to stand here and do nothing. I want to make a difference. I want to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Henrich says. “I want to go to as many things as I can, anything from a dinner with a family to a big public event, I want to be there and I want to be present.” Henrich says she received some valuable advice from the 2009 Iowa State Fair Queen, Caine Westergard, who is also from Henrich’s hometown of Akron.

McKenna Henrich, State Fair Queen

“She gave me a lot of insight and things that I should pay attention to and different things I should be mindful of,” Henrich says. “Coming into this week, I had some things I could look out for. Caine is a great role model for me because it’s awesome that she got to win and now I get to represent my county and my town and, not only that, but my parents and the people that have gotten me here today.”

Prior to her being named as the new queen, Henrich was approached by the granddaughter of Brenda Brown of Taylor County, who is of about seven years old. Henrich took off her county queen tiara and placed it on the girl’s head to pose for pictures. Minutes later, Henrich was named the Iowa State Fair Queen.

When the Atlantic City Council gathers at 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, they’ll start the meeting by paying special recognition to the Trojan varsity Girls Softball Team. The girls finished in 4th Place at the State Tournament. Prior to their strip to State the Trojans beat Anamosa in a memorable 11-inning game. They ended their season at State 34-7, setting a record for the program. The Mayor and City Council have made it point to recognize the positive achievements of Atlantic’s students.

Afterward, the Council will receive a presentation from SWIPCO Community Development Director Alexsis Fleener, with regard to an Upper Story Housing Grant Conversion Program offered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), through the CDBG program. During the Council’s last meeting, Fleener said they’re looking to obtain grant funds for a project at 509 Chestnut Street, which would see the upper floors converted into two new residential units.

A public hearing will be held after the presentation, as part of the application process to IEDA, for the aforementioned CDBG program. If the Council approves SWIPCO proceeding with the application, and the funds are approved in the next round of grants, the City would simply act as a “Flow through” agency for those monies, and otherwise will not have a financial stake in the matter.

The Council will also act on approving an agreement with The Retail Coach, for retail recruitment and related services, at a total cost of $32,500, which is less than their original proposal of $35,000, and includes reimbursibles for some services. City Administrator John Lund says he has completed re-working the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Progress Budget to accommodate the proposal, if the Council approves the agreement. He says to recover the cost of the investment, new retailer(s) in Atlantic will need to generate over $7.1-million in net taxable sales over a period of several years. New sales taxes generated would be distributed to all the taxing authorities in Cass County, according to Lund, and new commercial property value will benefit all the taxing authorities within the City limits, thereby creating downward pressure on the tax levies.

As part of the agreement with The Retail Coach, the City will receive the following services:

• A market analysis of competing communities, a customized retail trade area map with demographic and psychographic profiles, based on current cellular geolocation data.
• A determination of retail opportunities, including gap analysis and consumer propensity report.
• A development and redevelopment strategy, including 310 development sites and 20 retail site profiles.
• A list of 35 retailers and 20 developers, with their contact information.
• Development of a custom marketing and branding package for retailers, developer opportunity package, online retail dashboard and interactive site mapping, to track progress and response to proposals.
• Recruitment of retailers and developers by The Retail Coach, with status updates on the dashboard and monthly recruitment updates.
• Attention to the downtown retail trade area, with its own custom retail map, workshops with business owners, and more.
• And, ongoing coaching and support from The Retail Coach team, as well as representation of Atlantic at regional and national retail industry events (including the International Council of Shopping Centers [ICSC] recon, in Las Vegas.