DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state audit released this week asserts that Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections in a process that violated state law. Reynolds named department veteran Beth Skinner as director in June 2019, replacing retiring interim Director Dan Craig. The Iowa Senate approved Skinner’s appointment in February. But state law requires the Iowa Board of Corrections to recommend qualified individuals to the governor when a vacancy for corrections director exists. The Des Moines Register reports that the state auditor found that hadn’t happened in Skinner’s case. It was not immediately clear what — if any — action would be taken as result of the audit.

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has announced an AtlantiCash giveaway beginning today.

“Two big factors of the Chamber’s income are events and sponsorship dollars. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we haven’t been able to host any large events, like AtlanticFest, which has put a strain on income. Not being able to have events has also put a strain on foot traffic in businesses and getting the community out and about safely. We wanted to think of a way to generate income, support our membership and businesses and engage the community, all without drawing a crowd. We felt an AtlantiCash giveaway was the perfect fit,” Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce stated.

The Chamber will be selling raffle tickets beginning today, September 24th through October 15th for $20 a ticket, three tickets for $50 or 6 tickets for $100. Individuals who purchase tickets will be entered into a drawing to win $1,000, $750 or $500 in AtlantiCash. All additional proceeds will stay with the Chamber to continue supporting business and community activities.

“AtlantiCash is money that has to be spent in Atlantic. We hope by doing this giveaway it will give the business community a boost and get shoppers out, going into businesses and seeing the importance of shopping local,” mentioned Smith.

Tickets can be purchased at the Chamber office, over the phone at 712-243-3017 or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com. For more information or to learn more about AtlantiCash, visit www.atlanticiowa.com.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – September 24, 2020 – Guided by their purpose-driven strategy to serve customers and build strong communities, Alliant Energy announces 100 percent of the company’s active light-duty fleet vehicles will be electric by 2030.

“Our customers and the communities we are privileged to serve benefit from our plan to electrify our fleet vehicles and our commitment to a cleaner energy future,” said JP Brummond, Vice President of Business Planning at Alliant Energy. “By transitioning to electric vehicles, we reduce the total cost of ownership of our fleet and reduce emissions. The savings are an element of our ongoing focus to maintain affordable rates for our customers while also contributing to a cleaner environment for all to enjoy.”

Electric vehicles offer several advantages for customers and communities, including lower total cost of ownership through reduced fuel costs, less maintenance and fewer direct emissions. More information on electric vehicles is available at alliantenergy.com/ev.

To achieve this goal, Alliant Energy will replace end-of-life light-duty vehicles, including up to half-ton pickups, sedans, SUVs, passenger vans and forklifts, with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). Advancing the company’s commitment to build strong communities, Alliant Energy plans to purchase electric vehicles and parts locally to further benefit communities and local economies.

This new goal is part of the company’s Clean Energy Vision recently showcased in Alliant Energy’s 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report. The company aims to eliminate all coal from its generation fleet by 2040. Alliant Energy also announced a new aspirational goal of net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for the electricity it generates by 2050.

Today’s announcement coincides with National Climate Week and National Drive Electric Week. During these high-profile, awareness-generating weeks, Alliant Energy will participate in conversations about how renewable energy benefits the environment, customers and communities. The company is presenting the Sustainable Transportation virtual series for fleets. Visit alliantenergy.com/sustainabletransportation to register and learn from industry experts.

Alliant Energy strives to be a leader in electrification initiatives by embracing technology that will enhance their purpose-driven strategy to serve customers and build strong communities.

For more information, visit alliantenergy.com/electrification.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday released details on three recent accidents.

Atlantic, IA — The Cass County Health System (CCHS) Board of Trustees voted on September 23, 2020, to close the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) and repurpose the space as a permanent location for AMC Rapid Care.

“On the matter of closing the BHU, the board had a lot of factors to weigh: the pandemic likely lasting throughout 2021, the work longevity of our psychiatrist, the availability of inpatient beds increasing across the state, and the statistics of how many local residents we were actually serving, just to name a few. Looking holistically at that data, we were able to unanimously and confidently say that this is the right decision,” said Chairman Ned Brown.

Initially, COVID-19 played a role in ceasing services in the BHU. “As the pandemic started ramping up across Iowa, we looked at our own operations in the BHU. It’s a congregate care setting with four patient rooms and a common living area that is shared with staff 24/7/365. There was no way that we could responsibly keep the unit open with coronavirus cases climbing. We would have been jeopardizing the health of our patients and staff, some of whom are high risk. Many experts anticipate this pandemic to persist at least an additional 12 to 18 months, and we did not foresee a time in the near future when we could responsibly reopen the BHU,” said CCHS Chief Nursing Officer Amanda Bireline. “We found ourselves forced into a position where we had to suspend services in the BHU back in early May, but the looming question was, ‘How do we still help people during a mental health crisis without a BHU?’”

CCHS Director of Acute Care Operations Amanda Rynearson, RN said that the pandemic provided staff with time to more deeply examine how CCHS was delivering crisis mental health care. “In some ways, it has been a blessing to have this opportunity to step back and evaluate this service. In our 4-bed unit, which was the smallest in Iowa, we were usually only half-full. One of our core goals is to provide more services locally, and the BHU is an area in which, quite frankly, we struggled to do that. In fact, nearly 75% of our patients last year came from outside of Cass County,” said “In total, we served less than 40 local patients last year. We know we can do better for our local citizens – and we need to do better.”

The solution was to create a crisis stabilization model, which has been in place since June. CCHS psychiatrist, Dr. Ivan Delgado, M.D., and a team of staff work to provide urgent one-on-one mental health crisis care to adolescents and adults. The goal is to then safely transfer the patient to the care of a mental health provider as appropriate.

“In this new model of care, I consult for patients needing psychiatric care while in the emergency room or on the inpatient floor.  I am able to assess the patient and advise on immediate needs such as medication adjustments, specialized inpatient placement, or a safe outpatient plan of care,” said Dr. Delgado.

Overall, Dr. Delgado says the new model is working well, and it was the right time to make this change. “By the time this pandemic ends, I will likely be closer to my retirement window, and the likelihood of CCHS recruiting another dually board certified psychiatrist for a 4-bed unit is slim to none so now is a good time to start planning for the future,” said Dr. Delgado.

Thanks to great collaboration with Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center, CCHS staff adopted the new process over the summer months and can already see its benefits.

“It seemed like closing the BHU could have caused some challenges in the emergency room, but since we transitioned to this new approach of caring for patients one-on-one, making sure they’re safe, and quickly connecting them to their next care provider, we honestly haven’t had any problems – the process has gone very smoothly,” said CCHS Emergency Department Manager Darci Young, RN.

Prior to the new crisis stabilization model, patients seen in the emergency department for behavioral health issues sometimes had to wait 2-3 weeks before being seen by a mental health professional on an outpatient basis. That delay prompted admissions that may not have been necessary if an outpatient appointment could have been rapidly facilitated. The new model allows Dr. Delgado to quickly assess and care for patients in times of crisis and more quickly arrange outpatient therapy with Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center— within 2-4 days or, if needed, to transfer a patient to a larger, more robust inpatient facility.

CCHS works closely with both Jennie Edmundson Hospital and Mercy in Council Bluffs to transfer patients. Additionally, there are two new, large facilities that focus on inpatient mental health needs. Eagle View Behavioral Health is a 72-bed inpatient acute psychiatric hospital in Bettendorf, Iowa, that opened in June. Closer to Cass County, Clive Behavioral Health will open in February 2021 and is a brand-new 100-bed facility that spans more than 83,000 square feet that includes a three-story unit for inpatient and outpatient services. Both facilities provide care to children and adults.

“Knowing that there were two new inpatient units of substantial size with far more resources than we can provide that are being added in Iowa helped extinguish some of our anxiety about transitioning our small four-bed unit to the AMC Rapid Care clinic that will serve thousands more citizens,” said Rynearson.

In addition to these new hospitals, CCHS also looked more deeply into other resources that could be utilized to improve access to mental health care. “We know that the county pays more than $320,000 annually to the Southwest Iowa Mental Health & Disabilities Services Region. That’s a large investment, and we have not vigorously tapped into those resources to work together with our region to improve mental health services in our county. One example is their mobile crisis teams, which we are now beginning to access,” stated Rynearson.

At the same time, CCHS is investing in a major remodeling project that includes quadrupling the space for its outpatient behavioral health program, Senior Life Solutions (SLS).  SLS is an intensive outpatient behavioral health program intended primarily for seniors, which provides individual and group counseling services three days per week.  The successful program began three years ago and now has a waiting list, and they will move into their new offices in January 2021.

“With the BHU services suspended due to the ongoing pandemic, CCHS was able to repurpose the space to reopen AMC Rapid Care in July with amazing results due to high patient demand. With Rapid Care, now conveniently located across from the Emergency Department, we are on track to provide over 5,000 patient encounters per year. It enables us to provide patients with an appropriate and more affordable level of care than they may incur with an emergency room visit.  AMC Rapid Care is a walk-in clinic accessed just inside the emergency department entrance on the south side of the hospital with no appointments necessary, open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” said Chief Clinic Administrator Tammy Bireline.

“At the end of the day, we always do what is best for our patients, community, staff, and organization. After looking at this from every angle, we all feel that we are making the right decision to move in this direction to serve more people with quality care. Mental health services are crucial, and we have and will continue to invest in our community’s needs in this area.  By redesigning our processes, adopting an enhanced outpatient model that expedites access to care, and working more closely with regional partners, we believe we can help prevent the need for unnecessary BHU hospitalizations while providing more access to outpatient care,” said CCHS CEO Brett Altman.

w/ Chris Parks

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A Creston man suffered fatal injuries following a head-on crash near Creston on Wednesday night.

The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident occurred at 11:52 p.m. on Highway 34, 1 mile west of Creston. Troopers determined that a 2006 Chevy Impala driven by 25-year-old Todd M Murray of Creston was eastbound on Highway 34 and for reasons unknown crossed the centerline of the roadway and collided head on with a 2021 Kenworth Semi driven by 42-year-old William J Caraway of Bondurant. Both vehicles left the roadway and came to rest in the ditch. Murray was wearing a seat belt but suffered fatal injuries in the crash.

Powers Funeral Home transported Murray from the scene to the State Medical Examiner’s Office. Caraway was not listed as suffering any injuries.

Atlantic, IA —The CCHS Board of Trustees approved bids for their upcoming remodel and construction project.

CCHS Chief Financial Officer Abbey Stangl noted that the board was very happy to see local and regional companies on the list of approved bids. “We’re very fortunate that we are able to work with a number of local contractors. That’s a win for us, a win for them, and it’s a win for the community, too.”

The project encompasses a wide range of updates, remodels, expansions, and some new construction. Although the pandemic initially seemed like a roadblock, it has proven to be an optimal time for the project. “Overall, the bids came in at less than our projections, which confirmed for us that pursuing our master facility plan construction project at this time was a fiscally smart move. Since we’ve been planning this for years, we are able to complete this multimillion-dollar project with cash. We aren’t bonding for these funds, and we’re not raising anyone’s taxes, either. This is a situation where we’re able to reinvest in our facilities because our community has ardently supported us. It’s our turn to give back to our patients and community, and these construction projects all center around improving our patient experience.”

Bids were awarded to the following companies.

• Badding Construction
• Veit Company, Inc.
• Precision Concrete Services, Inc.
• Seedorff Masonry, Inc.
• McDermott & Sons Roofing
• Atlantic Glass Company
• Poindexter Flooring, Inc.
• Servco Equipment Company
• Mahoney Fire Sprinkler, Inc.
• Camblin Mechanical, Inc.
• Drees Plumbing & Heating, Inc.

Construction is expected to begin immediately and last through 2021.

The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest of 25-year-old Natalie Rogers of Omaha, NE on Wednesday for OWI 2nd Offense. Rogers was taken to the Mills County Jail and later released on $2,000 bond.