CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a standoff in northwestern Iowa ended peacefully when a man who barricaded himself inside a home surrendered to police.
The standoff in Cherokee began Thursday around 5 p.m. and ended around 11 p.m. Authorities evacuated homes that were adjacent to the property as a precaution.

Cherokee County Sheriff Dave Scott says the man was the only one in the house, and had been drinking heavily. Authorities say the man had been served divorce papers, and he was believed to be armed. The Iowa State Patrol, Cherokee Police Department and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. The man, who was not identified, was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

Four Cass County Health System (CCHS) staff were recognized for their completion of the Iowa Hospital Association’s Leadership Development series recently. Amy Petersen, Inpatient Services Director; Barb Lytle, Diagnostic Imaging Director; Ryan Legg, Rehab Services Director; and James Baker, Food Services Director, all completed the one year leadership program in 2014 – 15.

Four Cass County Health System directors were recognized at the Iowa Hospital Association’s annual meeting for completing the IHA Leadership Series. Pictured with their awards are (left to right) Amy Petersen, Barb Lytle, Ryan Legg and James Baker.

Now in its 15th year, the IHA Health Care Leadership Series exists to develop critical leadership skills and competencies with the overarching objective of increasing retention of committed, quality staff in Iowa hospitals.

CCHS CEO Todd Hudspeth says “In the ever changing healthcare environment we live in today, serving in a leadership role is very complex and challenging. Having these individuals engaged in the IHA Leadership Development series better prepares them to face those challenges themselves as well as be a valuable resource for their co-workers at CCHS.”

Officials with the Cass County Health System report Cathie Alff, CNA was recognized recently as a Hospital Hero by the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA). Cathie was one of just ten hospital employees selected from the 174,000 hospital workers across the state to receive this honor at the 2015 Iowa Hospital Association’s Annual Meeting.
Cathie was nominated as a Hospital Hero for her compassionate care as a certified nurse aide in the CCMH Cardiac Rehab Department.

Cathie Alff was presented with a Hospital Hero award by Ted Townsend, Iowa Hospital Association Board Chair, and Todd Hudspeth, Cass County Health System Chief Executive Officer.

Todd Hudspeth, CCHS CEO, says “Cathie’s devotion to her patients is demonstrated every day by her compassion and willingness to go above and beyond for them. We are very proud and happy for her that the Iowa Hospital Association chose to recognize her dedication and commitment to excellence with this prestigious award.”

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The IHA program for the awards ceremony contained the following summary of Cathie’s nomination as a Hospital Hero: “Cathie Alff is a member of the Cass County Health System cardiac rehabilitation team, where she performs her clinical job duties in outstanding fashion every day. But it is the compassion, the empathy, the trust that she fosters from her patients and the caring she integrates into her work that make her a hero.

Some examples of how she goes above and beyond include: driving 20 miles in her own vehicle on her own time to assist a very anxious homebound patient with a Holter monitor device; taking a patient home who was too ill to drive; stopping to pick up a monitoring device to save a patient a trip to the hospital and giong to the nursing home to hook up a monitoring device so the patient would not have the stress of being transported to the hospital. Cathie’s good work ranges from volunteering to help a co-worker move her in-law into a nursing home to taking the time to sit with patients who are frightened or depressed and talking with them, comforting them, consoling them and crying with them. All of these actions are driven by a true sense of compassion and love for her patients and co-workers. Cathie has a unique insight into seeing the good in people and helping them see it too, so that it overshadows the weaknesses and becomes a strength to promote healing.

Cathie understand the big picture – she knows it is not about her; it’s about the patient. For her, every day at the hospital is not just “another day” at work; instead it is a profound moment in her patients’ lives and it’s their needs that have priority. Even when supporting her father and her significant other as they battled their own serious health issues, Cathie never wavered in her support and encouragement of the cardiac rehab patients she continues to care for every day. Cathie Alff truly embodies the meaning of what it is to be an Iowa Hospital Hero.

In an update to our previous reports, four Republicans and one Democrat have so far announced their intentions to seek the Iowa House District 21 seat left vacant by the death of State Rep. Jack Drake of Griswold. The Omaha World-Herald says in the mean-time, the two political parties have announced the dates for their conventions to choose nominees to face off in a special election Dec. 8th.

About two dozen Iowa counties plan to host “Iowa Youth Caucus” events on Thursday, November 19th. Secretary of State Paul Pate says 12-hundred junior and senior high school students have already signed up to attend. “Both parties are participating in this, so the students will see both the Democratic Party caucus procedures and the Republican,” Pate says. The students will vote for their preferred presidential candidates and, just like the Iowa Caucuses scheduled for February 1st, Republicans will collect “straw poll” ballots to gauge who won and Democrats will calculate the delegate strength of each candidate to declare a winner.

“We’re very excited about giving our young people the opportunity to learn first-hand how the Iowa Caucuses work,” Pate says. “Being First-in-the-Nation is a very serious responsibility and I think this activity will give them the background they need to become engaged in civics in their community.” Iowa Democratic Party chair Andy McGuire says many of the students will be close to voting age.

“If we want to get more young people involved politically, we have to engage them,” she says. “We have to involve them in public service and then programs like this really do that.” Iowa Republican Party chair Jeff Kaufmann says this exercise will help show the nation Iowa Caucuses deserve to be first in the nation. “We take this serious and we’re going to earn it again in 2016,” Kaufmann says.

Adults representing the Democratic and Republican Parties in each county will be on-site for the Youth Caucus events November 19. The students will debate issues and develop “planks” for their party platforms in addition to voting for their favorite presidential candidate. The events are fashioned after the “Mock Caucuses” Democrats and Republicans have been holding at high schools in the Des Moines area the past couple of years.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the Counties and locations for the Youth Caucus:

Cass County: Atlantic Middle School (Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle says there are over 100 students pre-registered, most of whom attend the CAM Schools.)
Dallas County: Adel-Desoto-Minburn High School
Fremont & Page Counties: Shenandoah High School
Guthrie County: Panorama High School
Ringgold County: Mt. Ayr High School
Taylor County: Bedford Elementary School
Union County: Creston High School

(Times might vary by school, but generally, registration will begin at 4:30 and the Youth Caucus gets underway at 5:30.)

(Radio Iowa)