ATLANTIC – Officials at Cass County Health System announced they have recently changed their patient survey vendor and process.  They have begun working with Press Ganey Associates, a leader in the healthcare performance improvement industry, to gather patient feedback.  Press Ganey utilizes a confidential, anonymous survey process to gather information the health system can use to improve patient experience and outcomes.

CCHS CEO Brett Altman said “Press Ganey provides a way for us to learn what our patients are experiencing and we can then use that information to improve our processes and service.”

Press Ganey will mail and email surveys to a sampling of patients who have been seen in the CCHS hospital and clinics.  This is a change from the telephone survey process the health system has used in recent years. Surveys are returned directly to Press Ganey, where the data is collected, analyzed and then provided to the hospital.  The surveys are completely confidential.

Altman noted.  “Patient feedback is very important to us, so we want to make it as easy as possible for our patients to share their perceptions with us.” The survey process for inpatients and surgical patients is regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  A sample of patients in these areas will receive a survey in the mail; if a response is not received within 21 days a second survey must be mailed.

A sample of patients seen in clinics, outpatient departments and the Emergency Department will also receive a survey in the mail.  Others will receive an email survey; a second email survey will be sent if there is no response in 5 days. Altman said “Patient feedback has been a key tool in our becoming one of the top 100 rural hospitals in America, and will help us work toward our mission to become the best rural hospital in America.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids man has been imprisoned for forcibly trying to steal an internet domain name from another man. Federal court records say 43-year-old Sherman Hopkins Jr. was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to 20 years in prison. He’d made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of interference and attempted interference with commerce by threats and violence. It’s unclear why Hopkins wanted the domain name.

The records say Hopkins acknowledged breaking into the man’s home on June 21 last year, brandishing a stolen handgun and demanding that the man get on his computer and move the domain name of doitforstate.com from one account to another. The man reported that Hopkins hit him with the gun and used a stun gun as well. The man gained control of the handgun during a struggle in which he was shot in a leg. He then shot Hopkins several times.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says four people were arrested Wednesday, and one person was arrested early this (Thursday) morning. 33-year old Gaylene Yvonne Laate, of Glenwood, was arrested at around 2:20-this (Thursday) morning, for Public Intoxication and Interference with Official Acts. Her bond was set at $600. Wednesday evening, 33-year old Christopher Allen Lundgren, of Red Oak, was arrested on a Warrant for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was taken into custody at the Mills/Montgomery County line and held on a $300 bond.

Wednesday afternoon, 29-year old Damingo Dupree Burks, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office for Assault Causing Bodily Injury. His bond was set at $1,000. And, 31-year old Brian Robert Vanderpool was arrested on a warrant for 2nd Degree Theft. His bond was set at $5,000. Wednesday morning, 31-year old Jessica Rose Minor, of Plattsmouth, NE, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Failure to Appear on a Citation. Her bond was set at $1000.

Atlantic City Council Members were led on a tour of the new Elite Octane Ethanol Plant on Wednesday night by Elite Octane President and CEO Nick Bowdish. The dry mill ethanol plant intends to begin operating near full capacity sometime next week.

The plant is very visible on the north side of Atlantic due to its two 156-foot in diameter, 150-foot tall Sukup corn storage bins. Each bin (which Sukup says can encase a 757) has the capacity for 2 million bushels for a total corn storage capacity of 4 million bushels. Mr. Bowdish talked about the supporting structure of those bins.

One of the first stops on the tour was the corn-receiving area near those large bins. One of the highlights of the operation is the speed and efficiency of the grain dumping process.

The corn that is received goes through a grinding process to create a flour for the first part of the ethanol making process which Bowdish explained.

After the starches are converted to sugar, Bowdish said the process becomes akin to brewing beer.

Further processing separates the alcohol from the dry distillers grain and water. The dry distillers grain is sold as livestock feed around the world. The plant also yields some corn oil that is mostly sold to bio-diesel plants to use in their process.  The ethanol eventually has to be blended with 2% gasoline to comply with federal regulations and prevent the alcohol from being used in other ways.

Bowdish thanked the council for their work in helping get the gray water project completed to the plant. He said that water will supply all of the cooling needs for the plant and will cut down the use of fresh water that a normal plant would use by about 2/3. He said due to new FDA regulations they will have to use wells for the water that contacts the grain.

During the process the only product emitted out of the stack from the plant will be water vapor.

Bowdish addressed concerns about odor coming from the plant saying he doesn’t expect there to be much that is noticeable but will let the public decide for themselves.

The plant has the holding capacity for 6 million gallons of ethanol which Bowdish said is about 15 days of production for the plant.

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Republican Senator Joni Ernst is calling for a senate hearing “on E-P-A Administrator Scott Pruitt’s scandals.” Ernst says she appreciates “some” of the regulatory changes Pruitt has made. “But I’ve got some real heartburn over the fact that he has been undermining the RFS,” Ernst said. “I’ve called him a liar. What he put on paper to me, he is not standing by.” Pruitt served as attorney general in oil-rich Oklahoma and Ernst says he has repeatedly failed to follow through on the president’s promises on the federal ethanol production mandate. Ernst opposes the so-called “hardship” waivers Pruitt recently has granted, exempting oil refineries from the federal requirement to blend ethanol into gasoline.  “He’s got a long ways to go to repair any damage he’s done in our relationship,” Ernst said, “what little there was.”

According to Ernst, Pruitt “is about as swampy” as it gets. “He is swampy and we’re trying to drain the swamp, right? Ernst asked rhetorically. “So even outside of the RFS and the fact that we do not agree on the RFS, there are a lot of other transgressions out there that Scott Pruitt has had that the American taxpayer does not appreciate.”

The Washington Post reported Pruitt asked E-P-A staff and political donors to find his wife a job, That prompted Republicans like Ernst to call on Pruitt to testify before the senate about those actions, as well as his lavish office spending, first-class travel and private security paid for by taxpayers.

(Radio Iowa)