Thursday, February 1, 2024
Vol. 159, Issue 5
Decorah, Iowa 52101 www.decorahnewspapers.com
One Section email: news@decorahnewspapers.com
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Winneshiek County task force fights opioid battle on local fronts By Zach Jensen
National Honor Society inductees, front row (l-r): Hannah Arendt, Edyn Bateman, Bridget Bentley, Elizabeth Bjork, Grace Blikre, Charlie Brandel, Elliana Brodbeck, Oliver Brummel and Louis Bucksa. Middle row: Davis Coppola, Gabrielle Dixon, Carter Dlhy, Jaidyn Duvel, Bryce Elsbernd, Sophia Fahey, Kelley Gates, Natalie Goodner, Gavin Groux and Shelby Hageman. Back row: William Hahn, Austin Helgerson, Kealy Hines, Camryn Holland, Leah Holland, Abbeke Jensen, Sara Johanningmeier, Dakota Johnson, Annika Keefe and Ansel Kowitz. (submitted photos)
National Honor Society inductees, front row (l-r): Andrew Kruger, Reid Kuehner, Jakob Maret, Emily Myers, Mason Myers, Beau Newhouse, Savannah O’Reilly, Lillian Olson, Amelia Pankow and Jackson Pipho. Middle row: Andrew Rhodes, McKenzie Riley, Kellen Roffman, Ellie Rolfs, Lily Sandhorst, Klaara Short, Jordan Sims, Domenik Smith, Kamryn Steines and Ella Stille. Back row: Leah Suhr, Nathan Swarbrick, Gwenyth Thompson, Jerald Thompson, Amelia Wadsworth, Kera Walter, Kinsey White, Addison Wicklund and Grant Zilka. Not pictured: Karmyn Bakken and Elsa Johnson.
Decorah High School National Honor Society inducts 60 new members The Decorah High School chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) inducted 60 new members during its annual induction ceremony Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. This year’s program included speeches by the NHS officers: President Brynn Storhoff, Vice-President Simon Kutz, Communications Director Spencer Rix, Treasurer Libby Phillips and Maverick Elizabeth Pritchard. Music featured included an orchestra ensemble and a performance by the Madrigal Singers. To be inducted into the National Honor Society, a student must have maintained a high grade point average and must have demonstrated effective leadership, scholarship, character, and service. Members are selected by a committee of faculty members after a review of applications.
The Decorah NHS is involved in a number of initiatives, including volunteerism, building community and tutoring. President Brynn Storhoff commented, “I am proud of the work the Decorah NHS has accomplished thus far. I look forward to working with the new inductees and am confident we will achieve great things as an organization.” The new National Honor Society inductees include Hannah Arendt, Karmyn Bakken, Edyn Bateman, Bridget Bentley, Elizabeth Bjork, Grace Blikre, Charlie Brandel, Elliana Brodbeck, Oliver Brummel, Louis Bucksa, Davis Coppola, Gabrielle Dixon, Carter Dlhy, Jaidyn Duvel, Bryce Elsbernd, Sophia Fahey, Kelley Gates, Natalie Goodner, Gavin Groux, Shelby Hageman, William Hahn, Austin Helgerson, Kealy Hines, Camryn Holland, Leah Hol-
land, Abbeke Jensen, Sara Johanningmeier, Dakota Johnson, Elsa Johnson, Annika Keefe, Ansel Kowitz, Andrew Kruger, Reid Kuehner, Jakob Maret, Emily Myers, Mason Myers, Beau Newhouse, Savannah O’Reilly, Lillian Olson, Amelia Pankow, Jackson Pipho, Andrew Rhodes, McKenzie Riley, Kellen Roffman, Ellie Rolfs, Lily Sandhorst, Klaara Short, Jordan Sims, Domenik Smith, Kamryn Steines, Ella Stille, Leah Suhr, Nathan Swarbrick, Gwenyth Thompson, Jerald Thompson, Amelia Wadsworth, Kera Walter, Kinsey White, Addison Wicklund and Grant Zilka. Current National Honor Society members include Brooke Anfinson, Lucas Arendt, Annaleissa Arnold, Brady Bohner, Caden Branum, Annika Brynsaas, Grace Brynsaas, Cody Carolan, Brock Christensen,
Olivia Christopher, Peter Essa, Jorja Folkedahl, Lydia Frank, Madelyn Fromm, Bethany Hanson, Brody Hanson, Brayden Hartl, Gabriel Hiner, Elayna Hook, Kathryn Kelly, Sydney Kipp, Simon Kutz, Evon Leitz, Danielle Losen, Anders Lovstuen, Alexander McGohan, Lydia Monreal-Rice, Creed Monroe, Aidan Nalean-Carlson, Brenna Parker, Libby Phillips, Elizabeth Pritchard, Jeramiah Rediske, Spencer Rix, Julia Severtson, Naomi Simon, Joseph Stammeyer, Brynn Storhoff, Grace Stortz, Will Teslow, Corina Timm, Fisher Tweten, Abbie Valkosky, Ciara Wedmann, Henry Weis, Yazmeen Whitsitt, Paige Wrightsman and Kaiden Youngblood. Liz Fox and Shannon Horton are the faculty advisers of the Decorah chapter of the National Honor Society at Decorah High School.
America’s opioid crisis is in full swing, and the Winneshiek County Opioid Task Force is taking it head on. Helping Services for Youth and Families Prevention Specialist Jon Vagts presented an update on the task force’s progress to the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors during its regular meeting Monday morning. According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the “opioid epidemic” began in 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies were giving the medical community incentives to prescribe more opioids — even though they knew opioids were highly addictive and easily abused. “That was the first wave of the opioid crisis that we had,” Vagts said. When the crisis became frontpage news, in the early 2000s, much of the medical community either stopped prescribing opioids or greatly reduced the number of opioid prescriptions written. “People weren’t able to get the prescriptions as easily, so they switched to heroin,” Vagts said. Addicts and drug abusers soon found that heroin was also not always immediately available, which made many begin using the “baked pills”, essentially homemade pills, that are common on America’s streets today. Vagts said that over 100,000 people have died in the United States in the last year alone only because of opioids. Vagts informed the supervisors that, in response to local opioid use, Narcan, naloxone nasal spray, has recently been approved as an over-the-counter opioid overdose treatment, is available at no charge from Helping Services and the pharmacies at Thrifty White and Walmart. The treatment can also be purchased for between $35 to $45, Vagts said.
The task force will soon be sending out a needs survey to the community to help them decide how to spend the funding it’s been granted. Other business • During a report from Winneshiek County Attorney Michael Kueny, Supervisors Chair Dan Langreck encouraged Kueny to include a four-inch lift, rather than a three-inch lift in the upcoming W14 road project in Spillville. • During the public hearing held on the National Flood Insurance Program Ordinance, several unidentified members of the public asked questions, most of which Winneshiek County Planning, Zoning and Floodplain Ordinance Administrator Tony Phillips answered in previous county supervisors meetings and during Monday’s public hearing. • Following the public hearing, the supervisors held the first reading of the National Flood Insurance Program Ordinance, during which Floodplain Ordinance Administrator Tony Phillips read the entire 15-page ordinance aloud. • Jim Ludeking, who has served as the clerk for Springfield Township for the last 25 years, asked the supervisors to consider a raise in pay for township trustees. He said when he started, trustees were being paid $20 per meeting, and in 2005, they received a $5 raise. In 2012, the township trustees received a raise to $45, and that’s the most recent raise they’ve received, Ludeking said. “Well, we definitely don’t want to lose you,” said Langreck; to which Ludeking responded, “Well, at 72, you’re probably going to lose me pretty soon anyway.” • Mark Jensen and Stephanie Fromm presented the supervisors with a budget and program review for Winneshiek County Development and Tourism.
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WinnMed Pharmacy in Decorah to open Feb. 1 WinnMed in Decorah, formerly Winneshiek Medical Center, recently announced the opening of its new pharmacy Thursday, Feb. 1. Located in the renovated North Building on its Decorah campus, the WinnMed Pharmacy offers retail pharmacy services, including prescription filling and education, over-the-counter medications, medication adherence packaging, medication synchronization, compounding, drug disposal, vaccines and other services. Future plans include pharmacists serving in a
consultative role for the Mayo Clinic Health System clinical practice at WinnMed and providing a meds-to-beds program for hospitalized patients ready for discharge. The new WinnMed Pharmacy serves patients from all health systems and providers and accepts most insurance plans,
including Medicare and Medicaid, Blue Cross, CVS/Caremark, ExpressScripts, Optum and many others. As patients refill prescriptions or request new prescriptions, staff will work with them and their insurance carriers to ensure in-network coverage prior to filling. Donlon to WinnMed Transition The WinnMed Board of Trustees approved the acquisition of Donlon Pharmacy in June of 2023. Following an extensive renovation of Win-
nMed’s North Building, the pharmacy will transition from its downtown Decorah location to the WinnMed campus. “We are thrilled to be able to continue the long-standing tradition of locally owned pharmacy services here at WinnMed,” said Steve Slessor, WinnMed Chief Administrative Officer. “We have tremendous respect for Donlon Pharmacy, that team and the work it does for the community. To have that team joining us and to work with them to continue to enhance retail pharmacy offerings in this community is beyond exciting.” “Our entire pharmacy staff is excited to be joining WinnMed and look forward to expanding
our pharmacy services to help benefit members of our community,” added Mark Branum, Pharm.D., BCGP, who served as Pharmacist-in-Charge at Donlon Pharmacy and continues in that role at WinnMed Pharmacy. “We are particularly happy to welcome patients from all providers and clinics as we accept nearly every insurance plan and will be a preferred provider in those networks.” According to a WinnMed press release, important points to support the transition are: • Donlon Pharmacy’s last day of operation was Monday, Jan. 29. WinnMed Pharmacy will open Feb. 1 on the WinnMed campus (901 Montgomery
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Street, Decorah). • Upon Donlon’s closing on Monday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m., any prescriptions not picked up at Donlon Pharmacy will be returned to stock and will not be available to refill until the reopening as WinnMed Pharmacy on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. • All Donlon patients will automatically transition to WinnMed Pharmacy, unless the patient notifies the pharmacy of alternate preferences. • All Donlon pharmacy staff are transitioning to WinnMed. Patients will see familiar faces
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