Atlantic, IA—Cass Health is excited to announce a new service: coronary calcium scoring tests. A buildup of calcium can narrow the arteries and reduce blood flow to the heart. By knowing if there is a significant buildup of calcium in your arteries, your healthcare provider can better predict your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, or heart attack.
“The test itself is a simple CT scan of the heart and chest, and it gives us a glimpse into the amount of build-up within your arteries,” said Radiology Director Jess Sandbothe. “After the test, a radiologist will review your scan and the results will be sent to your healthcare provider. Patients who have MyChart can also see their results as soon as they are available.”
The results of a coronary calcium can are usually given as a number, or a score. The higher the number, the more calcium was detected, and higher scores correlate to a higher risk of heart disease. Generally, a score under 100 means a low chance of developing heart disease, 100 to 300 is a moderate amount of calcium was found and indicates a higher risk of heart disease, while a score greater than 300 is at the top end of extensive disease and the greatest risk of heart attack or stroke.
The test is generally recommended for men 40 and older and women 45 and older, although it is not helpful for all patients including those with diabetes. Your healthcare provider might recommend and order this test for you if you have any risk factors such as a family history of heart disease, if you use tobacco, have high cholesterol or blood pressure, are overweight, or have a sedentary lifestyle.
Patients who are interested in the test are encouraged to talk with their primary care provider about it. It is also important to know that most insurance companies do not cover the cost of this test; patients will be expected to pay a $75 testing fee when they check-in at Registration.
The January session of Healthy U will be presented by Cass Health’s Registered Dietitian Sarah Andersen. This session will be on Thursday, January 16 at noon in Conference Room 2.
“Many people think that understanding glucose is only important for people who have diabetes, but understanding glucose is important for everyone. Managing your glucose levels can have an incredible impact on your overall health, and we’ll talk about a number of easy strategies you can use at every meal to help you keep glucose levels from spiking,” said Andersen.
Andersen earned her Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University and completed her Iowa State Dietetic Internship in the 2018. She is a credentialed Registered Dietitian with the Commission on Dietetic Registration and is a State of Iowa Licensed Dietitian. She is a member of the Iowa Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.
Space is limited! A free boxed lunch is provided for all attendees, so reservations are required. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat. For more information about Healthy U, visit casshealth.org/healthyu.
Rapid Care will close at 2 pm on Tuesday, December 31st and remain closed on Wednesday, January 1st.
It will reopen on Thursday, January 2nd.
Cass Health is happy to announce that Michelle Phippen, LPN is the newest recipient of The DAISY Award, which celebrates excellence in nursing.
Phippen became an LPN in 2012 and began working at Cass Health in November 2023. She works at Atlantic Medical Center with Family Medicine Physician Dr. Adam Verhoef. Phippen was nominated by her coworker Clara Hagedorn, LPN who wrote a detailed nomination about Phippen’s dedication to help a non-English speaking patient through the hardships of her pregnancy, including providing education and care related to gestational diabetes.
Hagedorn wrote, “Having gestational diabetes brings additional tests, closer monitoring, and often medication to manage. For the patient, continuous glucose monitoring was required to help Dr. Verhoef be able to best treat her diabetes, and this included a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) being placed every 10 days in office. She also had to be started on insulin, which would require injections twice a day, and non-stress tests (NST) twice a week … Michelle was always comforting to the patient and always assured she understood what she would be doing. Overall, while there were multiple hardships for this patient, both discussed and not discussed in this story, it did not prevent Michelle from providing exceptional care for the patient. It was truly humbling to work alongside Michelle in the clinic, seeing the amount of time, care, compassion, and heart she shared with the patient throughout her pregnancy, and will continue to postpartum. I know I am not the only one who has noticed her efforts, and I hope she knows how appreciated and admired they were!”
Phippen said, “I’m honored to have been nominated for the award, and it’s not something I ever thought I would be considered for. This particular patient that I got nominated for has just been through a lot of struggles, and if I can help in any way to ease any of those struggles, I would try.”
Nurses at Cass Health are honored twice annually with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.® The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate care nurses provide to patients and families every day. The DAISY Award committee at Cass Health thanks all nominators for their submissions. Each nurse who was nominated will be presented with a special pin and a copy of the nomination.
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
This is one initiative of The DAISY Foundation to express gratitude to the nursing profession. Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org. An online nomination form is available at https://www.casshealth.org/daisy.
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Atlantic, IA— As part of National Rural Health Day, Cass Health today announced it has earned a 2024 Performance Leadership Award for Excellence in both Patient Outcomes and Quality. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes, and/or Patient Perspective.
“Our vision is to be the best rural hospital in America because we care deeply about the health of our patients and community, which means we are committed to always providing excellent quality of care and striving for the best possible outcomes. Even though the award identifies top quartile performance, we know that we are actually in the top 4 percent for both quality and outcomes. Being recognized for eight years in a row is certainly testament to the level of care provided at Cass Health, and not only are we extremely proud to achieve this award, we hope that our community is also pleased to know that the care they receive here is among the very best in the country,” said Cass Health CEO Brett Altman.
The Performance Leadership Awards are based on the results of The Chartis Rural Hospital Performance Index®, a comprehensive and objective framework for assessing how rural hospitals are performing. Index benchmarks are relied upon by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health to measure performance across multiple areas impacting hospital operations and finance.
“The Performance Leadership Awards capture the commitment, diligence, and innovation with which America’s rural hospitals approach the delivery of care within their communities,” said Troy Brown, Network Consultant, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “It’s a tremendous honor to be able to recognize the efforts of this year’s award winners and celebrate their achievement as part of National Rural Health Day.”
Atlantic, IA— Cass Health Registered Nurse Austin Larson presented the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Patriot Award to his leadership team this summer. Larson specifically recognized Inpatient Services Nurse Manager Danielle Powers, RN for her support and also recognized the entire leadership team as playing a role in his continued success navigating both full-time employment and his service in the Guard.
An employee serving in the National Guard or Reserve, or the spouse of a Guard or Reserve member, may nominate individual supervisors and bosses for support provided directly to the nomination Service member and his or her family. The Patriot Award reflects the efforts made to support citizen warriors through a wide range of measures including flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for families, and granting leaves of absence if needed. Patriot Awards are issued through the Department of Defense and are presented to recipients by ESGR volunteers.
Larson joined the National Guard on July 2, 2015, and currently serves as a Staff Sergeant (E-6) in B-Company 1-168 Infantry.
“My duties within the National Guard have constantly conflicted with my weekends to work, which leaves the hospital’s inpatient unit with short staffing. It also conflicts with my ability to meet full-time hours throughout the year since I work night shift and require the day before drills off as well. My manager has never once displayed any frustration with these conflicts and has always worked with me when errors in scheduling occur to ensure that I am off for drills with no complaints or negative comments. Even when I had just started at Cass Health and had to leave for a few weeks to complete my Advanced Leader Course,” said Larson.
Becky Coady, Iowa ESGR state chair commented, “Supportive employers like Cass Health are vital to the success of our mission and the defense of this nation. Our Guard and Reserve members could not perform their military duty without knowing their civilian employers support them 100 percent.”
ESGR, an office of the Department of Defense, seeks to foster a culture in which all employers support and value the employment and military service of members of the National Guard and Reserve in the United States. ESGR operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam-CNMI, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Nearly 100 Iowa Committee volunteers across the state serve members of the Iowa Army and Iowa Air National Guard, the Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve, and Army Reserve, as well as their families and their civilian employers.
Atlantic, IA—Following the success of the public measure to declare EMS an essential service in Cass County, the Cass County EMS advisory council expressed their gratitude to the community.
“Thank you for allowing us to continue to work together with a consistent and transparent funding source to support and promote the most cost-effective and efficient EMS system possible for our county going forward. We promise to do our very best to continue quality care for each other in our county,” said Chairperson and Cass County EMS Association Medical Director Dr. Elaine Berry.
The council’s next steps include annually advising the county’s board of supervisors on the tax levy, which cannot exceed 75 cents per thousand, as well as deciding on the annual distribution of those tax dollars around the county.
The advisory council has seven votes, one from each of the volunteer services in the county. The representatives include Chairperson Elaine Berry, MD; Bob Reynolds, Paramedic (Atlantic); Brian Wendt, EMT (Anita); Madison Lund, EMT and Ericka Stender, Firefighter (Cumberland); Brad Amos, Paramedic and JC Wyman, EMT (Griswold); Julie Kline, Paramedic (Lewis); Josh Krause, EMT (Marne); and Alisa Kool, EMT (Massena).
Separately from the advisory council, the Cass County EMS Association will do ongoing work with the county board of supervisors, the hospital, and the city of Atlantic to work on developing the most cost-effective and efficient ways that EMS can be run in our county.
“We have various ad hoc attendees to the meetings who do not vote but give input from various perspectives around the county including Steve Green from the board of supervisors, Erik Johnson, Cass County First Aid Program Coordinator, and Mike Kennon from Cass County Emergency Management,” said Dr. Berry.
The November session of Healthy U will focus on MyChart, presented by Cass Health Chief Information Officer Mitch Whiley, with other staff on hand to help with any MyChart related questions. This session will be on Thursday, November 21 at noon in Conference Room 2.
MyChart is a secure online tool that allows patients to manage their health information and communicate with their healthcare providers. During the presentation, Whiley will show patients how to navigate within MyChart to access information like visit summaries, test results, medications, and immunizations. Attendees will also learn how to access their billing summaries, how to use E-Check In, and how to manage proxy access to their MyChart account for family or caregivers.
Space is limited! A free boxed lunch is provided for all attendees, so reservations are required. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat. For more information about Healthy U, visit casshealth.org/healthyu.
ATLANTIC, IA – Cass County Public Health has immediate openings for the current session of A Matter of Balance. This free class is designed to help decrease falls and help older adults manage their fears about falling. Though the class officially begins the first week of November, there are still slots available for interested participants.
A Matter of Balance is an award-winning program to help older adults learn to manage their concerns about falling, make changes to reduce the risk of falling, and increase their physical activity. It includes 8 weekly two-hour sessions for a small group of 8-12 participants led by trained facilitators.
Cass County Public Health has been offering this program since 2018 because falls among adults aged 65 and older are common, costly, and preventable. According to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury for adults ages 65 years and older, with 1 in 4 older adults reporting falling every year. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among adults ages 65 and older.
For more information, or to sign up now, call Cass County Public Health at 712-243-7443.
Atlantic, IA— On Friday, November 1, Dr. Elaine Berry was presented with the Iowa Association of County Medical Examiner’s Distinguished Service Award for her 35 years of service.
Dr. Berry began serving as Cass County Medical Examiner in 1989. Throughout the first 27 years of appointment, she was the only medical examiner in Cass County aside from an occasional appointed deputy who took call on the rare occasion that Dr. Berry was out of town.
“Being a death investigator can be emotionally, mentally, and physically strenuous, and even more so when you are unable to share the burdens of the role. She recounts memories of having to leave early from her children’s musical concerts and family holiday parties, so she could fulfill her duties to her patients and the role of medical examiner,” said her nominator and fellow medical examiner investigator Tabetha Smith, RN.
In 2016, she was able to recruit additional help. Thanks to the support of other investigators sharing the duties, Dr. Berry was able to give her time to her other passions: volunteering at her church teaching Sunday school and serving on medical mission trips. Today, Dr. Berry serves as the Cass Health Chief Medical Officer, and she continues to serve in the roles of Director for Emergency Services and County Medical Examiner.
Dr. Angela Weppler said, “Dr. Berry, more than anyone I know, has committed to our community in multiple ways, from EMS and nursing home directorships to her years of service as our County Medical Examiner. I cannot think of another provider who has sacrificed more of their time and skill or who is more deserving of recognition for their service to Cass County than Dr. Berry.”