A University of Iowa report finds an average of four Iowans are killed every day, or more than 1,500 people a year, by injuries. John Lundell, deputy director of the U-of-I’s Injury Prevention Research Center, says the first-of-its-kind report is broken down by age group, gender and injury and covers the years 2002 through 2006. Lundell says unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for younger people, from ages one to young adulthood and from the ages of 25-to-34, things like car crashes, motorcycle crashes and drownings. Motor vehicle crashes are the number-one cause of unintentional injury deaths for all Iowans, while teens and young adults have the highest rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visit due to crashes. The report found Iowans in their middle years are their own worst enemies, so to speak, as their top killer is suicide. Lundell says, "That is surprising to many folks and it’s unfortunately a cause of injury and death in this state that has, so far, been largely unaddressed." Suicide is the leading cause of injury death for Iowans in the 35-to-54 age group, while it’s the number-two cause, behind car crashes, for teens and young adults. While many young people can trip and fall with no consequences other than maybe a skinned knee, Lundell says that’s not the case for the older generation. Falls are a significant cause of death in the elderly. Lundell says, "Many of us have experienced a fall of a loved one that might result in a hip fracture or a head injury and oftentimes, unfortunately, it’s the cause that finally puts them to their final rest." The report also looks at Iowans’ injuries geographically. He says smaller counties, those with populations of less than 10,000, had the highest injury-death rate while counties with populations of more than 50,000 had the lowest injury-death rate. While injuries kill an average of four Iowans a day, Lundell says for every person who dies, another 250 make emergency room visits. Part of the goal of the report is for Iowans to recognize there are serious risks out there — but he says there are also ways to minimize those risks. He hopes people will consider working with their local Safe Kids Coalition, or to get people to wear seat belts or bike helmets. Others may take on public policy initiatives and work with their legislators and come up with programs, for example, to reduce falls. You can see the full report on unitended deaths here .
Report breaks down the causes of deaths in Iowa
Dropout rates up but state says they’re still low
The Iowa Department of Education released the new report on the state high school dropout rate Thursday that shows some 4,400 students in the ninth through 12th grades dropped out last year. That’s a rate of 2.85%, which state education officials say is one of the lower rates in the nation.
The Burlington school district had the highest dropout rate of 8.85%, followed by Marshalltown at 8.53% and the Council Bluffs schools at just over 8%. The Webster City School district was seventh in the state report with 31 dropouts and a dropout rate of just over 5%. In the 2006-2007 school year there were 21 students who dropped out of Webster City High School.
Webster City superintendent Mike Sherwood says they have been working to turn the situation around. Sherwood says they had done some work in the last month to identify the dropout population and says they’ve been working to set up a meeting with the dropouts to "gauge what the issues are, how can we better serve and meet their needs, and what kinds of changes do we need to make as a district to reengage them back in school."
Sherwood says they will do whatever they can to improve the dropout rate. Sherwood says the staff has been involved and are concerned as well. He says they will review their policies and practices and try to identify the issues and address them aggressively. The state is now using a new system that assigns a number to each student to hopefully give them a more accurate assessment of what’s happening with students.
The other Iowa school districts in the top ten with dropout rates included Des Moines, Waterloo, Fort Madison, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine. The complete report can be viewed on-line at the Iowa Department of Education website, or through the link on RadioIowa.com.
(Pat Powers of KQWC in Webster City contributed to this story)
Iowa opens Big Ten baseball race today
The Iowa baseball team is set top open the Big Ten race on Friday with the first of a three game set against Michigan. This time of year the weather can always be a factor and there is the possibility of some snow over the weekend. Iowa coach Jack Dahm says his first conference weekend was Michigan State and it was nice when they started the game and snowing by the time it ended. Dahm says you don’t realize how far north the Big Ten schools are, but he says every team plays in the same weather and you have to be “tough between the ears.” He says the World Series is often played in cold weather late in the season, so it’s not something unique to baseball. Dahm says they have moved up the start time of the series opener to 4 p.m., and that is the earliest they can start as the players have classes. New this year for the Big Ten is the weekend series’ will be three games instead of four. He says the coaches have been pushing for this as he says they felt they needed to do some things to improve the competitiveness in the conference. Dahm says they could still have doubleheaders with rain outs or weather, but hopefully they will only have to play one game each day. After opening the season 2-8 the Hawkeyes have now won six of their last eight heading into the start of league play. Dahm says it seems like they were pressing and more concerned with the results instead of how they are playing. Dahm says they seem to be playing better after getting out more and believes they will continue to improve.
Iowa Conference softball race begins this weekend
The Iowa Conference softball race begins this weekend and several teams are poised to make a run at the title. Defending champion Wartburg is off to a 19-1 start and despite losing several position players from last year coach Kara Kehe’s team still has standout pitcher Angela Hartwig.
Hatwig is a senior who was an All-American last year and Kehe says she’s a real asset to the team. The Knights enter the conference race having not surrendered a run in 47 straight innings. She says it’s a neat streak to watch, and says the defense has really helped the pitchers who have done a nice job.
Kehe expects a tough league race as she says the conference has been outstanding in non league play. Wartburg opens on Saturday against a Coe team that also expects to be in title contention. Wartburg is ranked 20th nationally. Central is 15-1 and ranked 15th nationally.
Coach George Wares feels Wartburg is one of several teams that will be in contention. He says if you love softball at this level, you’ll be able to see some great play. Central opens against a Cornell team that made major strides a year ago.
Luther is ranked 25th nationally.
Lawyer talks about Postville illegals
It’s been nearly a year since federal agents raided the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, rounding up nearly 400 illegal immigrants. Sonia Parras is a Des Moines attorney who’s helping to represent some of those people at no charge.
"We’re currently representing about 52 immigrants," Parras says. They’re seeking a remedy for immigrants who are "victims of specific crimes of violence that are helping the law enforcement and the prosecutors in the investigation or prosecution of their cases."
Despite the wide publicity surrounding last May’s Postville raid, Parras says the state and federal governments are doing all they can to help the immigrant population. "Immigrants are abused and are deprived of their employment rights and because of their fear of immigration consequences, if they are to report the crimes, they just endure these crimes in silence."
Parras spoke last night in Webster City. Her appearance was sponsored by the Hamilton County League of Women Voters.
Waterloo police believe series of home invasions related
Police in Waterloo say three home invasions early Thursday morning are connected and the victims were not chosen at random. In one of the break-ins, a woman was shot in the leg. The injuries to 27-year-old Deshai Whitis are not considered life-threatening.
Waterloo Police Chief Tom Jennings says all the three of the incidents occurred between 3 and 5 a.m. "We believe those three events are connected," Jennings said at a press conference. "We know these weren’t random acts. These houses weren’t just picked out."
No arrests have been made. Police have been interviewing witnesses and victims. Jennings declined to discuss a possible motive. "In this forum, I’m hesitant to elaborate, but I can tell you we have information that connects the three home invasions together," Jennings said. Police say one of the invasions involved three or four intruders in face masks that demanded money from the home’s occupants.
In the other two cases, nothing was taken from the homes. A relative of the shooting victim said he doesn’t believe robbery was the motive in that event. Waterloo Police also noted that two assaults occurred on Wednesday. Officers made arrests in those cases and say they do not appear to be connected to the home invasions.
Veterans Home medical director defends staffing change which boosted her pay
The medical director of the Iowa Veterans Home is defending a staffing decision that gave her a substantial pay increase. Melissa Bruhl says she and other staff physicians started getting paid for on-call duty when it became increasingly difficult to recruit outside physicians for nights and weekends.
"At that time we were averaging between four and five 12-hour shifts a month that we couldn’t't get coverage for," Bruhl says. "And as the months went on the number was increasing.
Bruhl says that’s when she asked Commandant Dan Steen — the top administrator at the home — to approve a new on-call system that eliminated the need for outside physicians. The home’s four staff physicians, including Bruhl, were then paid extra to cover those hours.
"I, personally, have had no resident or staff member complain to me about the change," Brool says. "In addition I have had no contact from any family members complaining about the quality of care."
Bruhl testified yesterday before the Legislature’s Veterans Affairs Committees. Ray Zirkelbach, an Iraq war veteran who is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told Bruhl the staff are doing a "great job" caring for the 700 veterans who make their home at the facility, but Zirkelbach also said the Veterans Affairs Commission should have been asked to sign off on the decision.
The top manager at the Iowa Veterans Home — Commandant Dan Steen — must leave the post on May 1st as Governor Culver did not reappoint him to another four-year term.
