Floyd Valley Healthcare Names Dustin Wright As New CEO/Administrator
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Healthcare’s Board of Trustees are pleased to announce that Dustin Wright, FACHE, has been named as Floyd Valley Healthcare’s CEO. He will begin his duties on Monday, December 10th.
Wright will replace Mike Donlin, who will retire on November 30th after 20 years as administrator at Floyd Valley Healthcare.
Wright says he is thrilled to join an organization with an outstanding reputation and history of excellence. “In meeting with the Board of Directors, providers and leadership of Floyd Valley Hospital it became evident this would be a great cultural fit. I am looking forward to living in Le Mars and being an active member of the community.”
Wright comes to Floyd Valley Healthcare most recently from UnityPoint Health – Marshalltown (IA) where he served as Vice President of Operations. He has also served as CEO of Community Memorial Hospital (UnityPoint Health) in Sumner, IA and as Director of Senior Care/Ancillary Services then Director
of Clinic Operations at Sanford Sheldon in Sheldon, IA. Dustin earned a Bachelors Degree at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and his Masters in Healthcare Administration from the University of Missouri in Columbia. In addition to his professional career, he has been involved in many local civic organizations.
Bill Young, Board of Trustees Chair, says he believes that Floyd Valley Healthcare’s reputation, as it directly relates to the leadership under Mike Donlin, is what attracted such a qualified pool of applicants for this position. All four of the final candidates were very complimentary of our hospital, staff and community.” Young says, “With the support from the senior management team and the physicians, we feel that Dustin Wright was
the right person to continue the mission and vision of Floyd Valley Healthcare. His qualifications and leadership qualities will continue to enhance the positive culture at Floyd Valley Healthcare.”
Floyd Valley Healthcare will be holding a community reception to introduce Dustin Wright to our community, and to honor Mike Donlin on his retirement on Friday, November 30th from 5 – 7 p.m. in the West Lobby. The public is invited to join us in this celebration.
Plymouth County Accepted Into Northwest Iowa Care Connections Mental Health Services
(Le Mars) — During the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors meeting held Tuesday, supervisor chairman Don Kass announced to the other supervisors that Plymouth County has been accepted into the Northwest Iowa Care Connections Mental Health and Disability Services. Plymouth County will
officially join the new regional mental health program beginning July 1st of 2019.
Plymouth County officials have until November 15th to give notice that it intends to leave the Sioux Rivers Mental Health Services. Plymouth County approached the Northwest Iowa Care Connections Mental Health Services
following the request of Woodbury County to leave the Sioux Rivers Mental Health program. Sioux Rivers had consisted of Woodbury, Plymouth, and Sioux Counties. Iowa law requires that at least three counties are needed to form a regional mental health services program, and that they be contiguous.
With Woodbury County choosing to pursue a membership with the Rolling Hills Mental Health program, that left Plymouth and Sioux the need to find another county that would be willing to join the remaining two counties, or to pursue membership into a new regional mental health services program, and dissolve the Sioux Rivers Mental Health program. According to Kass, Sioux
County has yet to be accepted into the Northwest Iowa Care Connections program, but Plymouth County is legal since the northeast corner joins O’Brien County which is a member of Northwest Iowa Care Connections.
Plymouth County To Paint Center Lines On County Highways
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe announced on Tuesday to the county board of supervisors, the county will begin painting center lines on county paved roads. Rohe says the county conducts the painting on a rotational basis every three years.
Rohe says the cost to the county to paint the center lines may exceed $110,000.
Rohe says the county prefers painting the roads during the autumn.
The Plymouth County engineer admits that snowplows can be at times rough on the new pavement painting.
Rohe anticipates the painting of the county pavements will happen within the next couple of weeks.
Highway 20 Four-lane Construction Now Completed
HOLSTEIN, Iowa (AP) – After six decades of construction, an expansion project to build a four-lane expressway across northern Iowa is finished.
The Des Moines Register reports that a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Friday in Holstein for the completed U.S. Highway 20 corridor. The corridor now extends 302 miles (486 kilometers) to connect Sioux City with Fort Dodge, Waterloo and Dubuque.
Road widening of the expressway’s first 3-mile section started in
1958. But the remaining miles have taken 60 years to complete.
Gov. Kim Reynolds and Rep. Steve King will join Iowa Department of Transportation officials in celebrating the alternative to the often- congested Interstate Highway 80 across Iowa’s midsection.
Shirley Phillips is president of the U.S. Highway 20 Corridor
Association, a lobbying group representing communities along the route.
Phillips says members are ecstatic and never thought they’d see the project’s completed.
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Lieutenant Governor Adam Greg Visits Le Mars
(Le Mars) — Iowa’s Lieutenant Governor Adam Greg made a stop to Le Mars on Tuesday. Greg is defending Governor Kim Reynolds for her positions as the Republican team seeks election. Privatized medicaid has been a contentious issue for both sides as they seek the position of Iowa’s governor. Greg, a native of Hawarden, says Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell claims he would revert back to having a state-controlled program. However, Greg says Hubbell hasn’t answered the basic question with regards to how will he pay for the program.
Greg says the cost of managed care was spiraling out of control, beyond the state’s financial means.
The Lieutenant Governor says things are going well for Iowans.
Greg says although wages are higher and taxes are lower, he and Governor Kim Reynolds are still not satisfied.
Secretary Of State Pate Says Election Information Is Safe
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office acknowledges Iowa’s voter registration lists are being sold on the internet, but says there’s no call for public alarm.
The office said Tuesday that the FBI is investigating reports of voter registration rolls from 19 states – including Iowa – being sold online.
Spokesman Kevin Hall says the rolls are public records that anyone can buy from the Secretary of State’s Office for about $1,000.
Hall says the rolls don’t include voters’ personal information, such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers, and the attempts to sell the lists online has no impact on the security of Iowa’s elections.
Hall says the online sales aren’t the result of any hacking, saying
whoever is selling the lists got them the way anyone else would. They “bought these lists and are using them improperly … to try to make a profit.” Pate is scheduled to appear at the Plymouth County Courthouse on Tuesday, October 23rd at 12:00 noon to discuss the security of elections.
Former Altoona Police Officer Is Arrested
ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) – A man has been accused of taking prescription pills seized during criminal investigations when he was working as an Altoona police detective.
Polk County court records say 39-year-old Joshua Copeland is charged with two counts of felonious misconduct in office, two counts of forgery and one count of possession of a controlled substance. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
The Des Moines Register reports that Copeland resigned in April from the Altoona force to avoid termination. Authorities say Copeland switched pills seized during criminal investigations in 2017 and replaced them with over-the-counter medications. The pills were kept in temporary evidence lockers.
Authorities also say a small amount of methamphetamine was found in his squad car. The records say Copeland later tested positive for meth.
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Mega Millions Jackpot Continues To Climb As No Winning Ticket Matched Numbers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – No winning lottery ticket was sold for the latest Mega Millions drawing, meaning the jackpot climbs to $868 million.
Mega Millions officials say no tickets matched all 6 numbers to claim the estimated $667 million grand prize in Tuesday night’s drawing. The numbers were 3, 45, 49, 61, 69 and Mega Ball 9.
The next drawing will be Friday. The estimated jackpot for that drawing would be the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million.
It costs $2 to play the game, but the odds of winning the jackpot
aren’t good. The chance of matching all six numbers and taking home the grand prize is one in 302.5 million.
Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
