According to the Center for Disease Control, 30 states had reported a total of 935 confirmed measles cases as of May 1, 2025. The United States declared the virus eliminated in 2000, but experts say a decrease in vaccination rates has led to the return of the virus. Three measles deaths Read more…
By Malinda Shultice I’ll never forget my first day of what was intended to be a temporary and very much part-time position at a senior living community in rural Iowa. We had just moved for my husband’s job, giving me more time alone with my thoughts than I knew what Read more…
Shane and Jackee Austerman with their children, Isaiah and Elizabeth. Contributed photo. Shane and Jackee Austerman’s children, Isaiah, 15, and Elizabeth, 12, were born with phenylketonuria, or PKU, a rare genetic disorder where the body is unable to produce an enzyme that breaks down the amino acid phenylalanine. Their diagnoses Read more…
By: Jaclyn Overton My oldest daughter just turned 5. Looking back at photos from the day she was born, I’m reminded of the pure, unmatched joy I felt. Becoming a mother was something I dreamed of more than anything, and it’s a title I feel so deeply honored to have. Read more…
Host Keesha Ward opened the 2024 My City My Health Conference with a request from the audience: Don’t just write down what you learn here today. Commit to taking at least one action to improve health equity. Health equity was the entire ethos of the My City My Health conference, Read more…
When Carol Mefford began her nursing career 58 years ago, nurses didn’t use gloves at patients’ bedsides. It was considered rude. She graduated from college the same time Lyndon B. Johnson passed Medicare. She worked as an oncology nurse at the beginning of the field’s development. She used to have patients Read more…
As told to Emily Barske Wood Tara Geddes grew up in a medical family. Her mom was an obstetrics nurse, and her dad an emergency medical technician. She knew early on that she also aspired to a career in health care – but she had zero desire to ascend to Read more…
By Nicole Paseka Grundmeier Andrea Arkland with her daughter, Emersyn. Submitted photo Andrea Arkland gave birth to her first baby at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines. But when she has a second baby someday, she might drive almost 300 miles to her home state of South Dakota so she Read more…
At least 40 of Iowa’s birthing units have closed since the turn of the century. Rural communities have faced the brunt of the challenge: Thirty-one of Iowa’s 99 counties don’t have a labor and delivery unit, and the closures have led to a decline in Iowa women seeking prenatal care. Among the decline Read more…
Photo by Ann Olson. BY MACEY SHOFROTH For many women, waiting until the American Cancer Society’s recommended age of 40 to begin yearly screening mammograms can have terrible consequences.Especially in Iowa, which has the second-highest rate of cancer in the United States and is the only state where that rate increased Read more…