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AARP says members still want health care reform

September 1, 2009 By

A.A.R.P. state director speaks about health care at the Iowa statehouse. A.A.R.P.’s state director says a new survey by the organization shows most of its 400,000 members aren’t ready to give up on health care reform.

 Bruce Koeppl says they wanted to do the survey in the wake of the numerous congressional town hall meetings and the "well-documented concerns" and "myths" that came out of those meetings.

"As you’ll see these results are a firm rebuttal of the notion that older Iowans don’t want health care reform this year. In fact they show that our members believe just the opposite," Koeppl says. He says the findings also reject the notion that older Iowans are against changes in Medicare, as he says Iowa members of A.A.R.P. "overwhelming support" strengthening Medicare as a part of health care reform.

A.A.R.P. surveyed members 50 years and older the last weekend of August and 63-percent said the system needs major changes, while another 28-percent said at least minor changes are needed. Thousands of members have dropped out of A.A.R.P. over the health care issue, but Keoppl downplays those defections, saying he wasn’t sure of the number of state losses.

Keoppl says he doesn’t know the specific losses to Iowa, but he says nationwide they lost 60,000 members out of 40-million. He says this summer they also gained new membership and renewals that added up to over two million. Koeppl says A.A.R.P. plans to continue pushing ahead to get health reform passed.

He says they will keep talking to their members to keep them engaged, and will also be going back to Washington, D.C. to talk to congress. The group also plans telephone town hall meetings on health care on Wednesday and Thursday. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is one of the six Republicans and Democrats working on the health care bill. Keoppl was asked if A.A.R.P. will lobby Grassley to try to get the issue moving forward.

"This senator has put a lot of work into health care reform, he has done his homework, he’s got a great staff, and I think that we’re going to continue to put the pressure on from out point of view that folks want something to happen…He’s clearly a national leader so it will not only be here in Iowa, but across the country. Koeppl says this poll will be part of the effort to try and convince Grassley to move health care ahead.

"You know as well as I know that you don’t force Senator Grassley to do anything he doesn’t want to do," Keoppl says, "but we will continue to talk, we will continue to reason and provide evidence and information that we think supports our position."

Keoppl says A.A.R.P. has not endorsed any plan yet because they don’t know what the final plans will look like. For more information on the A.A.R.P. survey and health care stance, go on-line to: www.healthactionnow.org .

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government

Report says most businesses are complying with state smoking ban

September 1, 2009 By

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reporting that most of the state’s 82,000 businesses subject to the Smokefree Air Act are complying with the law. Bonnie Mapes is director of the department’s division of tobacco use prevention and control. "We have only about 1% of the employers in the state who have actually (received) notices of a complaint," Mapes said.

"So, the vast majority of the businesses are in compliance with the law." IDPH has released the first Iowa Smokefree Air Act Annual Report. It includes data from July 1, 2008 – when the ban on smoking in most public places took effect – through June 30, 2009. Public health officials received more than 3,300 complaints over the year, but only 2,100 were validated. Mapes says around 300 complaints were filed anonymously.

"Most of the time we’re able to talk to the person who submitted the complaint and sometimes we’ll get complaints about things that are not actually violations of the law. They’ll say, ‘people are smoking five feet outside the door,’ and of course that’s not a violation," Mapes said. "We get more complaints than complaints that are validated." During the first month of the law, Iowans submitted nearly 600 complaints. Over the next month, there were just 315 complaints.

Mapes says reports of possible violations of the law have continued to dip from month to month. She says that’s the same pattern that other states with similar laws have experienced. The full 19-page report is available on-line here .

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Fire truck versus helicopter accident

September 1, 2009 By

A helicopter landed at an accident scene near Mediapolis in southeast Iowa late last night, and it’s still there, being repaired today. A fire truck leaving the scene to go on another call hit the helicopter. 

"There’s a spotlight up on top of the truck that’s on a pedestal and that’s what clipped the rotor of the aircraft," says Iowa State Patrolman Tom Law.

There had been a two-vehicle accident and a "MedForce" helicopter was dispatched to the scene. The helicopter landed on Highway 61, but the fire fighters at the scene were dispatched to a second accident near the gympsom plant south of Mediapolis.

"The driver of the fire truck and the assistant chief got in the truck, started to leave the area to go to the second accident," Law says. "That’s when they struck the main rotor on the helicopter."

The fire truck suffered minor damage and was still drivable, but the helicopter was disabled. A second helicopter was dispatched to the scene to fly an accident victim to University Hospitals in Iowa City. When Law left the scene after midnight, the first helicopter was still there.

"It’s sitting dead center of Highway 61, just south of 260th Street," Law says. That’s north of the town of Mediapolis. The first wreck involved two vehicles that collided at the unlit intersection.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Late frost needed to allow corn to mature

September 1, 2009 By

An Iowa State University extension agronomist says Iowa corn producers need a late run of warm weather to allow the crop to mature. Roger Elmore says corn needs a certain amount of heat to cause it to mature, and so far that’s been lacking.

“Statewide, we’re 12 days behind normal. That means it would take 12 normal heat unit accumulation days to catch up right now,” Elmore says. July was the coldest on record and low temperatures in recent days have fueled talk of an early frost. Elmore says that’s not good if farmers hope to gain back those lost heating days. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Weather

Volunteers to work on Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp

September 1, 2009 By

As many as a thousand volunteers will be tackling dozens of chores, big and small, this week at the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp in western Iowa. Four scouts were killed, dozens hurt, when a tornado hit the camp in June of 2008. Jeff Parness, spokesman for the New York Says Thank You Foundation, says his team will be in Harrison County on Thursday through Sunday.

“We’re going to be bringing our largest group ever to the Little Sioux Scout Camp in western Iowa that, obviously, folks know was hit by this deadly tornado a year ago,” Parness says. “We’re going to help rebuild the camp.” Three of the Boy Scouts who died in the storm were Nebraskans, all from Omaha; the fourth boy was Aaron Eilerts of Eagle Grove, Iowa. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Human Interest

Iowa soldiers headed for Afghanistan

September 1, 2009 By

Ten Army Reserve soldiers from Iowa will be leaving soon for Afghanistan. The reservists from Des Moines, Ankeny and other communities are part of the 372nd Engineer Brigade based in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Army Reserve spokesman Captain Bill Geddes says the soldiers will oversee all engineering assets within Afghanistan:

“That operation is going to include construction, route clearance missions, and everything from building military facilities to bridge and road design…basically just rebuilding the Afghani infrastructure,” Geddes said. The mission will also include clearing landmines from roadways.

“If there’s a road that has mines that’s not safe and hasn’t been cleared, they’ll clear that road,” Geddes said. Geddes says it’s the first deployment for the newly-formed engineering brigade. The soldiers will leave for Afghanistan after training at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

A spokesperson with the Iowa National Guard expects that eventually its units will also be deployed to Afghanistan since the Pentagon has shifted its focus from Iraq.

Filed Under: Military

Grassley: there may be just one path to bipartisan health care reform deal

September 1, 2009 By

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says there may be only one path Democrats can take to get Republicans to support for health care reform. "There’s a feeling that the only way to get a bipartisan agreement is to defeat a Democratic proposal on the first hand and then the Democrats will come to Republican leadership and then, at that point, they’ll know the only way they’re going to get health care reform is bipartisan," Grassley says.

The top Democrat in bipartisan, closed-door negotiations with Grassley, two other Republicans and two other Democrats said Monday the "sad part is a lot of politics has now crept in" and the Republican Party is pressuring Grassley and the other Republicans to leave the negotiations. Grassley says that statement is "not quite fair" because Republicans have offered a number of health care reform ideas.

"But, again, a Democratic plan shouldn’t pass. Just a Republican plan shouldn’t pass," Grassley says. "We ought to have something, when you’re restructuring one-sixth of the economy, that’s very broadly bipartisan."

Grassley believes Democratic congressional leaders are "rethinking strategy" on health care reform after what’s been said at congressional town hall meetings in August.

"The public feels that the roof is caving in on this country," Grassley says. "There’s a lot of fear expressed at my town meetings and it’s fear about government running out of control and a trillion dollar health care bill is just the tip of the iceberg."

According to Grassley, public angst is greatly fueled by dissatisfaction with the government bailout of the banking and auto industries. Grassley made his comments this morning during a telephone conference call with Iowa radio reporters.

Filed Under: Business, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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