Veterans in intensive care units at Iowa’s two V-A hospitals will soon be under the care of doctors in Minneapolis via the Internet. The Department of Veterans Affairs is going to the “hub and spoke” concept for providing health care in I-C-Us. Dr. Craig Piquette, at the Omaha V-A Medical Center, says advanced technology will make the Minneapolis V-A the hub for several other hospitals in the Midwest. “Due to the availability of intensive care-trained physicians in Minneapolis, they just have more of them than what we do here,” Dr. Piquette says. “Then the spokes are the seven ICUs across the region which includes facilities in Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Nebraska.” The technology involved in creating an electronic or “tele-ICU” is already in place in Omaha and Fargo and will be coming soon to Iowa and elsewhere.

He says “That hub in Minneapolis will eventually monitor intensive care units in Iowa City, Des Moines, Omaha, Fargo, Sioux Falls and the Black Hills facilities in western South Dakota.” Equipment can be placed in a patient’s room at any of the spokes and medical experts at the hub in Minneapolis will monitor that patient’s conditions, in addition to the local staff.  Piquette says, “Our nurse-to-patient ratio is one nurse to every two patients in the ICU but the electronic ICU provides a safety net, another set of eyes that is constantly watching the patient.” There is a restricted area at the Minneapolis V-A equipped with a bank of monitoring screens showing vital signs. There is also a live two-way audio-video feed that instantly connects the patient, bedside provider and the team of critical care nurses and specialists in Minneapolis. Piquette says the cameras and monitors show real-time events and the video resolution is remarkable.

He says, “The cameras can focus in on the patient and are able to allow the physician to assess things such as the size of their pupils and a rash on their skin.” When installation of the tele-ICU service is complete, 75 ICU beds at seven hospitals in five states will be monitored by critical care specialists in the Twin Cities.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

The latest state news with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Iowa Association of Realtors® (IAR) this week reported that at its annual convention held in West Des Moines this fall,  Dale Gross of Atlantic was installed as President of the organization. Don Marple of Davenport was installed as President-Elect and Kathy Miller of Sioux City was installed as Treasurer.

Gross has been a licensed Realtor® in Iowa for more than 34 years, and has been the broker and owner of Meyer & Gross Real Estate Company in Atlantic since 1978. He has been an active member of the IAR since 1978, serving on numerous leadership committees, and as past chair of the communications and education committees. He served as IAR’s 2011 president-elect and received the IAR Realtor® of the Year Award in 2008.

The IAR says Gross has also served in various leadership roles on his local board, the West Central Iowa Board of Realtors, and he contributes a great deal of time and energy to his local community. He is active in the Rotary, Za-Ga-Zig Shriners and the Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors. Gross supports numerous local organizations, including the Boy Scouts, YMCA Partnership for Youth, Food Pantry and the Family Crisis Center.

Officials with the Iowa DNR Wednesday said they had received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finalized determination that a 3.4 square mile area of central Council Bluffs violated the national air quality standard for lead in 2010 and is designated in nonattainment. The only known source of lead emissions in this area is Griffin Pipe Products Company.

The DNR began working with Griffin Pipe in 2010 to implement changes to reduce lead emissions. Griffin Pipe completed facility modifications and installed controls to reduce lead air emissions in early 2011. As of Nov. 15, 2011, the DNR’s Council Bluffs lead monitor has not registered any violations. In 2010 the Council Bluffs lead monitor measured six violations of the national standard.

The lead nonattainment area in Council Bluffs consists of industrial, commercial and residential areas. It is bounded by Avenue G on the north, North 16th/South 16th Street on the east, 23rd Avenue on the south, and North 35th/South 35th Street on the west. The EPA allows areas in nonattainment 18 months from the effective date of designation ― in this case Nov. 22, 2011 ― to develop and implement plans to reduce the exceeding air pollutant within five years.

The DNR will continue to monitor the area to determine whether additional measures may be needed to remain at or below the national air quality standard for lead. The standard is 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter of air, measured as a consecutive three-month rolling average.

Lead emitted into the air can be inhaled or ingested after it settles. Depending on the level of exposure, lead can affect the nervous system, kidney function, immune system, reproductive and developmental systems, and the cardiovascular system. There is no known safe level of lead in the body.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa said Wednesday that the congressional supercommittee’s failure to reach a deficit reduction compromise this week is only the latest sign that Congress is hopelessly deadlocked. King said he doubted significant proposals would emerge from Congress until after the next election. “We want to hear from the American people,” King said.

The Republican congressman, who spoke during a taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program airing over the weekend, said he believed all the deficit reduction proposals discussed by the supercommittee called for too much spending, something he said he would oppose. “I never believed it would produce a proposal that would pass the House and the Senate,” King said of the committee. “In my opinion, they didn’t address the problem. I have yet to see a proposal that takes us to a balanced budget in a reasonable time. ”

King noted the last election swept 87 new Republicans into office and shifted the debate in Washington. Republicans gained control of the House, while Democrats retained the Senate. “This is a split government, so it does bring about inaction,” King said. King currently represents northwest Iowa’s 5th Congressional District. But this year’s reapportionment cost the state a seat in Congress and he’ll be seeking another term in office from the 4th Congressional District, where he’s being challenged by Democratic former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack. The district is the most heavily Republican in the state and King starts out the race as the favorite.

King has taken a sharply tough position on immigration issues and said he was disappointed to hear former House Speaker Newt Gingrich outline a position this week that would allow a path to citizenship for those who come to the country illegally. He called it a form of amnesty and would make it tougher for him to support Gingrich. King has not endorsed a Republican presidential candidate and said he hasn’t decided if he will take that step.

In Congress, King has often been allied with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, but has not endorsed her bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Cass County Weed Commissioner Larry Randel provided the Board of Supervisors with an update on his department’s activities. Randel said he’s had several “problem issues” with the growth of noxious and nuisance weeds in the County he’s had to send out notices on, to property owners. Randel says he got a “decent response” from those he sent out notices to, but not a 100-percent response. Randal will follow-up with those property owners next year to remind them of their responsibilities. He said also he wants to work with the County to make sure they take care of their respective rights-of-way, especially after property owners complained that the county doesn’t take care of its fair-share of the weed problem. The weeds he says tend to proliferate, especially in the Massena area, because of work installing the wind turbines and culverts, which causes the seeds to be spread and appear unsightly when the grow into full-fledged weeds. Supervisor Chuck Rieken suggested Randel write an official letter to the County Roads Department, the Iowa DOT Engineer and Iowa Interstate Railroad, to remind them they need to take care of their right-of-ways.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors met for about an hour with area funeral home directors to discuss revisions to the County’s indigent burial policy, which currently pays up to $1,500 for burial or cremation services. Some suggestions which will likely be included in a draft of the policy – which hasn’t been changed since 1997 – include removing a nearly identical and redundant fee funeral homes and the County pays to the Medical Examiner’s Office, removing the funeral homes’ responsibility for finding a burial plot, and setting an equal rate for which the county pays cemeteries for grave openings and closing. How much the County pays for indigent burials needs to be determined soon, because budget deadlines are looming.

In an update to a story we first brought to you Tuesday evening during the news on KJAN, the Cass County Sheriff’s Department says three people were injured, one of them seriously, during a crash Tuesday afternoon, southeast of Anita. Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Ayers told KJAN News the accident happened about 3-miles southeast of Anita on Glendale Road, at about 3:45-p.m.

Ayers says a 1999 Chevy Blazer driven by 33-year old Cynthia Simon, of Anita, was traveling west on Glendale Road and turning left into a farm driveway, when she failed to see an eastbound 2000 Buick LeSabre, driven by 92-year old Virgil Martin, of Fontanelle.  The vehicle s collided head-on.

Both drivers were transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, along with Evelyn Martin, of Fontanelle, who was a passenger in the Buick. She was later flown to a hospital in Des Moines for treatment of serious injuries. Her husband was being treated at the hospital. Simon was treated at the hospital and released. Charges are pending completion of an investigation into the accident. Damage from the crash amounted to $18,000.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A former youth minister from Council Bluffs faces up to 17-years in prison for his role in the sexual exploitation of teens. 32-year old Brent Girouex plead guilty Tuesday to one-count of sexual abuse in the 3^rd degree, one-count of felony sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist, and one count of misdemeanor sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. His sentencing was set for March 7, 2012.

Girouex had been charged with 61 counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist and 28 counts of 3^rd degree sexual abuse, in connection with acts he allegedly performed while serving as a youth pastor with the Victory Fellowship Church in Council Bluffs. His Alford Plea to the 3^rd degree sexual abuse charge means Girouex did not admit to any specific elements of the offense, but acknowledges a jury would most likely find him guilty if a trial where held.

The charges were filed after Girouex told authorities about the incidents on February 16^th, 2011. He admitted the offenses to police only after church leaders confronted him upon hearing from four young men who came forward with the allegations earlier that month. According to court records, Girouex told investigators he felt it was his duty to — quote — Help (the teen) with homosexual urges by praying, while he had sexual contact with him.”