A Mason City-based hospital is restructuring its home health care and hospice programs, eliminating nearly 60 jobs. Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa will close facilities in Rockwell and Forest City, but all 59 people affected by the changes will be offered other jobs within the company. Diane Fischels, the hospital’s vice president of operations, says it was a tough decision to trim back services, but it’s hoped it will not lead to any layoffs. She says Mercy employees are the most important part of the organization. While some employees may be in different positions than what they are used to, she says the hospital is happy to be able to provide jobs in other sectors of the organization. Fischels says there are number of factors impacting Mercy — and many other hospitals nationwide. She says there are several economic issues that have hampered hospitals, including the downturn on the stock market, rising costs of caring for the unemployed and uninsured, as well as the decrease in demand for non-essential services with people delaying medical procedures. As part of the restructuring, Hospice of North Iowa will reduce the geography of its service area and close its Forest City office. Mercy Home Care will be reduced in scope from serving 12 north-central Iowa counties to just two, Cerro Gordo and Floyd. Also, the Mercy Family Clinic in Rockwell will close. The clinic is now open three half-days per week. Patients will have the opportunity to go to a Mercy Clinic in Sheffield, Rockford, or another provider.
Mason City hospital restructures operations
Postville Mayor says he’s resigning
The city of Postville could be in the market for a new mayor. Current Mayor Robert Penrod submitted a verbal resignation at the regular council meeting Monday night. Penrod did not give a required written resignation, so it is not official yet.
The council is not scheduled to act on the resignation until March 23rd. Mayor Penrod quit after a discussion about his purchase of a digital phone and e-mail device using city funds. Penrod had returned the item before the Monday night meeting, citing the high cost of service fees.
The Mayor and council had recently received a vote of no confidence from city employees. Tensions have been high in the city following the May 12 immigration raid at Agriprocessors and the ensuing economic troubles in the community.
Iowa Attorney General treated for prostate cancer
Iowa’s long-time attorney general underwent surgery this morning to treat prostate cancer. Sixty-four-year-old Tom Miller is in his seventh term as Iowa’s attorney general.
His spokesman released a statement at 10 o’clock this morning, saying Miller underwent “successful surgery” at a Des Moines hospital….for an “early stage of prostate cancer.”
According to the statement from his office, Miller considers himself “lucky” to have found the cancer early, while it can be readily treated.
Miller’s doctor expects the attorney general to make a full recovery. Miller will spend “several weeks in recovery before returning to his normal schedule.”
Miller was elected attorney general in 1978. He ran for governor in 1990, lost in a primary, and worked in private practice for four years before running for another term as attorney general in 1994. He was re-elected in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
Read the statement from Miller’s office, as well as his bio, over on The Blog .
Plans underway for bike ride
More than two dozen committees have begun planning activities for cyclists who’ll be in Council Bluffs to start RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — on July 18th. The ride has overnight stops scheduled in Red Oak, Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa and Mount Pleasant before ending in Burlington July 25th. Kathy Fiscus of the Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau says they’re even planning events in the days ahead of RAGBRAI. "We expect 15,000 riders plus local folks who want to show up for the various different entertainment venues that we’ll have," Fiscus says, "so we’ll have lots and lots of people." Fiscus estimates tourists drawn to Council Bluffs because of RAGBRAI will spend over five-and-a-half million dollars in her city. "The riders seem to come in at least a day early, if not two, and we want to be a warm and welcoming community and have them not only enjoy the activities in and around RAGBRAI, but to go to some of our other destination attractions as well," Fiscus says. This summer’s ride will mark RAGBRAI’s 37th year. The ride always begins in a Missouri River city and concludes in a city along the Mississippi River, so riders make their way from west to east across the state.
Pella Christian wins in 2A quarterfinal, defending 3A champ loses
In the class 2A quarterfinal round, fourth rated Pella Christian jumped out to a 20-8 lead at the end of one enroute to a 77-46 win over Ninth ranked Sumner Fredricksburg.
Pella Christian Guard Cliff Warner who led all scorers with 20 points says they want to get the pace of the game in their favor, and he says that pace got the other team a little tired. The Eagles are two victories away from a state title. Warner says it’s one of the five seniors’ high school goals.
Sumner-Fredricksburg coach Jim Stewart says the Cougars transition defense was not good enough. Stewart says they talked about getting back and stopping the transition, and they did not do a good job of that.
Class 3A play opened with Sioux City Heelan downing New Hampton 69-36, Carroll beat Marion 56-55 and Norwalk knocked out the defending state champion Dubuque Wahlert 56-41.
Harlan plays Benton Van Horne today at noon in the other 3A quarterfinal.
Iowa begins Big 10 tourney against Michigan
The Iowa Hawkeyes will open the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday against Michigan,. The Hawkeyes finished the league race 5-13 and while they enter the tournament as the tenth seed they have been competitive against many of the top teams.
Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says they’ve challenged and have been competitive and have to look at the tourney from that standpoint. But he says you also have to realize that they didn’t win the close games and are in the 10th seed and will have to play better to win.
The Hawks and Wolverines traded home court wins during the regular season. Lickliters says Michigan will try to do more of what it did the first time and they will try to be more successful than they were the second time around.
Lickliter says they key against Michigan is defending the duo of Manny Harris and Shawn Sims. He says they are skilled players, and if you don’t help out the right way on defense, they will hurt you be getting the ball to their teammates.
Iowa is 15-16 overall.
Religious leaders push for FDA control of tobacco
Some religious leaders in Des Moines Tuesday called on the Iowa Congressional delegation to support legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products.
Reverend Timothy Bonney of the First Baptist Church of Greater Des Moines says tobacco companies were supposed to have changed their ways after the 1998 state tobacco lawsuit settlement.
But Bonney says the tobacco companies are instead now targeting different audiences, including women and girls. He cited the example of the re-designed Virginia Slims cigarette package. Bonney says the packages are now available in the "attractive" colors of mauve, teal and are half the size of regular cigarette pack so the fit easily into purses or small pockets.
Bonney says there’s also now a "Camel Number Nine" cigarette brand that comes in a black package ringed in pink. Bonney says,"The name of this Camel Number Nine evokes the perfume product Channel Number nine and the magazine advertising associated with it shows flowery images and vintage fashion. Make no mistake…the tobacco companies are going after young women to be replacement smokers."
Bonney says this comes at a time when lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the top killer of women. Bishop Julius Trimble of the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church says the religious leaders are getting together on this issue because of the impact of smoking.
Trimble says it’s a matter of faith because it’s something they can immediately do to enhance the lives of millions of people. "It’s not a particular denominational cause, but it is a matter of faith for those persons who believe life is sacred and that life can be preserved..if we are more stringent with the use of tobacco," Trimble says.
Bonney says he agrees that protecting young people is a priority of the church and that applies to tobacco use. He cited statistics that show 90% of smokers begin the habit before they are 18. Bonney says adults are hopefully making their own informed choices when it comes to using these products, but he says children are being led into using the products before they have the ability to make an informed choice. He says they then become addicted and have struggle with the addiction the rest of their lives.
Bonney says we could reduce the number of people who struggle with the addiction and health problems if we reduce the number of people who’re mislead into using tobacco products.
They say Senator Tom Harkin was a co-sponsor of the bill in the last session of Congress and they are calling on Senator Chuck Grassley to also support the issue. The bill passed a U.S. House committee this week and is expected to come before the full house in the coming weeks.
The Des Moines clergy are part of a nationwide effort called "Faith United Against Tobacco."
