The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a Work Session Wednesday evening, at the High School. During their 5:30-p.m. meeting in the Media Center, the Board will discuss the Superintendent Search Process, including: Establishing the roles of consultants and the School Board; Defining the timeline for the search process; meeting with key stakeholder groups to develop a profile for the ideal candidate, and many other aspects of the search.

In April, Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2016-17 School Year. Amstein has served the Atlantic Community School District since 2010.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board will approve various personnel assignments, and discuss the Board Self-Evaluation process with representative from the Iowa Association of School Boards. They’ll also continue discussion with regard to the Voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy/Income Surcharge Special Election that’s set for Sept. 13th.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle said Tuesday, the Fifth Annual School Supply Drive, sponsored by the Cass County Democratic Party, was a success. Toelle said “We were once again able to supply all three school districts in Cass County needed items for the youth of this county who might otherwise not have new school supplies to start off the new school year.”

She thanks the community for its support for the project. Toelle said also “Special thanks to the Atlantic Medical Center staff who donated as a group; their donations were provided to Schuler Elementary School in Atlantic.”

Items donated by the Atlantic Medical Center

Lewis Elementary School staff with donations

Dale Whittaker presenting Washington Elementary School with donated items.

Sherry Toelle, Chair, and Ed DenBeste, Schuler Elementary School

More Red Cross volunteers from Iowa are heading to Louisiana to help with the flood recovery. Iowa Region spokesperson Kara Kelly says eight volunteers will join 11 Iowans who are already working there. “Most of them are working in emergency shelters, there are still thousands of people who cannot go home,” Kelly says. “We have a few people who are driving the emergency response vehicles — going into the neighborhoods making sure that people have food and water and clean up items.”

The flooding in Louisiana is called the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. “As you can imagine, it’s a huge mess and there’s just a lot of work to be done yet,” Kelly says. She says people who have never experienced the devastation of flooding may have a hard time understanding its impact. “In Iowa unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of serious flooding first hand, so perhaps we can be a little bit more understanding of it,” according to Kelly. “In Louisiana they are looking at more than 60-thousand homes that have been damaged or destroyed. Which is significant. We are looking at folks who could be out of their homes for months or even years. And that’s really devastating for people.”

The new volunteers who are heading to Louisiana are from Alburnett, Ankeny, Manning, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Slater and Vinton. Kelly says Iowa also has some “virtual volunteers” who will help out. “Some of our volunteers who might not be able to be away from home for two weeks have the ability to virtually deploy — which means they have the ability to work with folks who have been displace via the phone or computers,” Kelly explains. The virtual deployment helps the flood survivors and the Red Cross.

“It’s a way that we can maybe cut back on some costs of sending people down there, if they can just work with people on the phone. And it is still somebody to talk to, still somebody to share their story with and help move them closer to recovery,” Kelly says. Kelly says you can help even if you don’t have the time to be a Red Cross volunteer.

“The Red Cross urgently needs the public to help us support the folks in Louisiana and the easiest way to do so is to make a financial donation. Go to Red Cross-dot-org, call 1-800-Red Cross or text the word L-A Floods (LAFLOODS) to 90999 to make a 10 dollar donation. And those donations enable the Red Cross to help respond and to help recover from disasters,” Kelly says. She says volunteers typically spend two weeks at a disaster site, but can extend that if they wish. They sometimes will spend two weeks, return back to Iowa for a time and then go back to the disaster area.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two of the three private companies that manage Iowa’s Medicaid program say they have lost tens of millions of dollars since taking over. The Des Moines Register reports that AmeriHealth Caritas said last week that it had a $42.6 million deficit on its Iowa operation in the first six months of the year. Amerigroup reported a loss of $66.7 million.

Amerigroup spokeswoman Denise Malecki says the company lost more than it had anticipated. The two groups, along with UnitedHealthcare, took over the administration of Iowa’s $4 billion Medicaid program on April 1.

Gov. Terry Brandstad predicted the takeover would save the state millions over time. Amy McCoy, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, suggested the companies’ financial reports show expected expenses.

Officials with the Cass County Health System announced today (Tuesday) they are hosting a program with Iowa Weight Loss Specialists (IWLS) to provide information to area residents about effective weight loss options. The event will be held on September 28^th at 6:00 p.m. with a free informational session by IWLS medical staff for the public.

IWLS Director of Bariatric Surgery Dr. Todd Eibes, says “In Iowa, the prevalence of adult obesity is over 30%. Obesity increases the risk of having heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, which are the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. We are interested in being part of the solution to this medical epidemic right here in Iowa.”

In June of 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) declared obesity a chronic disease, leading more patients to seek clinical obesity treatment options from their primary care providers. Physician supervision is necessary to detect and treat weight-related medical conditions, and physicians can provide a variety of options specialized to the patient’s individual weight-loss needs.

Alison Bruckner, Chief Operating Officer at Cass County Health System, says “Our primary care providers frequently counsel their patients on how losing excess weight can alleviate and sometimes even eliminate other health issues. Thanks to Dr. Eibes and his team, we can now refer appropriate patients to these weight loss experts who have proven success helping hundreds of Iowans live healthier lives.”

Although this is the first time the IWLS team has conducted an informational session in Cass County, a number of IWLS patients are from the Cass County area. In fact, IWLS’s 100^th weight loss surgery patient, Chase Roller, is from Atlantic.  As a probation/parole officer, as well as a coach for high school football and wrestling, Roller was motivated to live a more active and healthier life. But his weight (and the strain on his arthritic hip the weight caused) was holding him back. Now he says his only regret is not having the surgery 10 years ago.

“I did a lot of research before coming to Dr. Eibes,” Chase explained. “I wasn’t keen on gastric bypass surgery because I didn’t want my internal plumbing re-routed and I read lots of horror stories of side-effects. I didn’t want the lap-band surgery because I didn’t like the idea of a foreign material inside my body that could cause future complications. I went to one of Dr. Eibes’ informational sessions and decided this was the solution for me. I was so surprised at how quickly the weight came off. I lost 160 pounds in 6 months. It’s amazing!”

Dr. Eibes and his team are offering a free informational session at Cass County Memorial Hospital on September 28^th, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room 2.  Advance registration is appreciated, but not required. To register, call Iowa Weight Loss Specialists at 515-327-2000. Visit www.iowaweight.loss for more information and to read about patient success stories.