EMT Week: Ambulance Services Face Challenges
(Le Mars) — This week is recognized as National Emergency Medical Technicians Week, a time we honor and pay tribute to those volunteers and paid staff that come to our aid when we are sick or injured. Bill Rosacker serves as the director of the Le Mars Ambulance Service. He says a challenge for Le Mars,
and ambulance services across the state, is to find enough volunteers willing to take the necessary training, and commit the time required to help on an ambulance service staff.
Rosacker says many smaller towns across the state are having troubles trying to staff an ambulance, especially during the daytime work hours. He points to Merrill as an example.
The Le Mars Ambulance Director says one solution would be to have counties, and the state, classify community ambulance services as an essential public safety entity. He says Wright County in North Central Iowa is trying a program which has the attention of the entire state.
Some people may wonder why an ambulance service is not considered to be an essential entity? The issue has been brought to the attention of the state legislature, but so far, lawmakers have not acted upon the ambulance shortage issue. Rosacker says, in part, it is because ambulance services are
controlled differently from town to town.
Rosacker says in many small town communities, the local ambulance service is actually operated as part of the community fire department, which is also finding it difficult to have enough volunteers to adequately serve a community. We will continue our series of reports regarding EMT week and the challenges of local ambulance services during tomorrow’s news updates.
Floyd Valley Healthcare To Get New Doctor
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Healthcare Administrator Mike Donlin announced that Dr. Ashley Powell will be joining the medical staff at Floyd Valley Clinics in August 2018. As a family physician, she will provide all facets of family healthcare services from pre-conception to end of life services.
Dr. Powell brings a wealth of education and training experience. The former Ashley Sitzmann is a Gehlen Catholic alum, so is already familiar with our area. She earned her undergraduate at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.
Dr. Powell received her Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine from Des Moines University. She is currently in the Family Medicine Residency Program at Clarkson in Omaha, NE.
Authorities Determine Train-Pedestrian Accident Was Suicide
BELLE PLAINE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have concluded that a woman pulled her son onto tracks at a railroad crossing in eastern Iowa, into the path of a train that killed them both.
The Iowa Public Safety Department said Tuesday in a news release that the deaths of 36-year-old Teresa Gerleman and her 8-year-old son, Henry Fields, were the results of a homicide followed by a suicide. The department says a security video recorded early on May 4 shows Gerleman and her son waiting near the tracks and crossing them. It shows her returning to the center of the crossing and, at the last moment, pulling the boy to her.
They lived in Belle Plaine.
Calumet Woman Gets Probation After Stealing From Trucking Company
CALUMET, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa woman accused of stealing more than $30,000 while working at a trucking company has been given probation.
Court records say 33-year-old Jamie Riedemann, of Calumet, was sentenced to four years of probation and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to Calumet Carriers. Riedemann also was given a deferred judgment, which means that her conviction can be removed from court records if she successfully completes the terms of her probation.
Prosecutors say Riedemann turned in fraudulent time cards and used company credit cards for personal purchases while working as business office manager for Calumet Carriers between January 2014 and August 2016.
Sutherland Man Found In Creek Dies At Hospital
SUTHERLAND, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man was pronounced dead at a hospital after being pulled from a creek in northwest Iowa.
Sutherland police say 41-year-old Daniel Wetherell was found underwater at the bottom of Murray Creek early Sunday morning. A vehicle was snagged on a guardrail nearby. Police say Wetherell was pronounced dead later at a Primghar hospital.
The accident is being investigated. Authorities say Wetherell was director of Sutherland’s General N.B. Baker Library.
Salvation Army Tries To Find Homes For Homeless
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – The Salvation Army in the Quad Cities is changing its approach to helping homeless families by intervening earlier and trying to get them into permanent housing more quickly.
Salvation Army Quad Cities coordinator Major Scott Shelbourn tells the Quad-City Times that families may be housed on an emergency basis at an extended-stay motel before moving to an apartment instead of staying at the organization’s Family Service Center.
The Salvation Army will stop accepting families into the center by July. Families currently living there will be moved to permanent housing in August. Shelbourn says there are about 30 families living in the building.
The organization hopes to have its new approach in place by October with plans to sell the Family Service Center building and relocate to a smaller facility.
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