Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 251
Happy (belated) Arbor Day! If you missed planting a tree on Arbor Day, no need to fret. You can plant a tree all spring. Keep the following tree planting tips in mind. Right Plant, Right Place There is a right, and wrong, place for everything, and this includes your trees. Before you plant a tree, think about the mature size in 30-50 years. While you may be planting a small tree now, a well-established tree will grow become a large tree in no time. And yes, trees can get as big as the tag says,...
Substance use disorders like alcohol and opioid use disorders can be diverse, and every patient has a different story when it comes to their addiction. Social factors, genetics, history of trauma or mental health disorders, and many other contributors may be at play, which can make treatment of substance use disorders challenging. Because of these challenges, successful treatment of substance use disorders often requires multiple approaches. Just like a patient with diabetes is best treated...
Jordan and Kate Mueller happily announce the birth of their son, Tad Joseph Mueller. Tad arrived on April 6, 2026, at Pender Community Hospital. Tad weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 20 3/4 inches long at birth. Grandparents included Joe and Carol Thiele of Clearwater and Mark and Denise Mueller of Emerson. Jackie Domina of Coleridge is Tad’s great-grandmother. Tad is welcomed home by his big brother, Huck....
A birthday celebration for Norma Grosze will be held April 18 from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Ewing Full Gospel Church Fellowship Hall. Cards and well-wishes may reach Norma at The Evergreen Assisted Living, 1600 N. Harrison St., Apt. 102, O'Neill, NE 68763....
In my role as a hospitalist, I am always happy when a patient is healthy enough to be discharged. A resounding majority of people want to go back to their home after they leave the hospital. What we do not want is an unsafe environment leading to repeat injuries resulting in a hospital readmission. At discharge we can have members of the Home Health team perform a “Home Safety Evaluation”. Physical Therapists, occupational therapists and sometimes speech therapists will evaluate a per...
While spring bulbs like crocus and daffodils are considered the earliest signs of spring, many times the earliest blooms are above your head. Some of our native trees are the earliest plants to flower. These trees provide early nectar for pollinators like bees. Silver and red maples, which are common sights on street corners and farmsteads, have already started to flower in Columbus. Their small red buds have burst into fluffy yellow flowers and can be seen covering the branches of trees. Elms...
Losing an extra hour of sleep may not be the worst thing that could happen when you "spring forward" at the start of daylight saving time. According to the American Heart Association, the world's leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, scientific researchers have noticed a marked increase in heart attacks and strokes in the days following this time change each year. This year, daylight saving time begins on Sunday, March 8. Daylight saving time is the practice o...
Late winter is a perfect time to prune the woody deciduous plants in your lawn and garden. Deciduous refers to the trees and shrubs that lose their leaves every winter, such as maples, hydrangeas, and oaks. Herbaceous plants have stems that will die back to the ground every winter. These can be cut back once the weather starts to warm. Winter pruning is ideal because of the lack of leaves, dormancy of the plant, and reduced risk of transmitting diseases between plants. Without leaves, the...
You might be familiar with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and its plant sales, grant programs, and promotion of green spaces in Nebraska. The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum has changed its name to PlantNebraska. The name change better aligns the organization with its mission – to foster landscapes all around Nebraska. PlantNebraska has released their 2026 picks for "GreatPlants for the Great Plains". This program was started in 1998 to highlight and promote underutilized plants that can be a g...
The month of January is Cervical Cancer Prevention Month. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services encourages women to schedule regular Pap tests and discuss other preventive measures, such as the Human Papillomavirus vaccine, with their healthcare providers, to dramatically lower the risk of developing cervical cancer. According to the National Institutes of Health, the five-year relative survival rate for cervical cancer is 67% overall. However, that rate jumps to 91% when the...
Dental caries (decay) remains the most common chronic disease in the U.S. and globally, despite decades of research and proven preventive strategies. In South Dakota, 60–65% of adults and over half of children have experienced tooth decay, with higher rates among low-income, rural and tribal populations. These disparities reflect longstanding challenges in accessing preventive care, especially in underserved areas. Two of the most effective, evidence-based strategies to prevent dental caries are...
Let's call her Sarah, although that wasn't her name. I'd had the privilege of delivering her, and the fun of watching her grow into a precocious toddler, with an impish smile and a joyous laugh. Then I had the responsibility of explaining her autopsy report to her devastated parents. She'd died from an infection that her young, previously healthy body just couldn't fight. It hadn't taken long; she'd started running a fever the night before, and her parents brought her to the clinic the next...
The family of Dennis and Phyllis Cleveland requests a card shower in celebration of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary. Dennis and Phyllis were married on July 5, 1975, at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Elgin. Their family includes Paula Alder of Norfolk; Gina (Leo) Haggerty of Cushing, Nebraska; Ryan Cleveland of Ewing; and Russ (Hillary) Cleveland of Plainview. They are proud grandparents to ten grandchildren. Formerly of Ewing, the couple now resides in Plainview. Cards and well wishes...
For much of modern healthcare, dentistry has existed apart from the broader medical system. Patients commonly have separate providers for medical and dental care, and this division is reflected in insurance models, education, and even cultural perception. Yet biologically, this separation is artificial. The mouth is a central part of the body, and its health is intimately tied to overall well-being. Studies of centenarians-people who live into their 100s-have shown a correlation betweengood...
It's remarkable how much anatomy education and medical practice overlap, yet anatomist-physician collaborations are often underutilized for improving student learning and patient care outcomes. Becoming an anatomist or a physician requires commitment to many years of education and practical training. Both generally require four years of comparable, comprehensive baccalaureate coursework followed by four or more years of concentrated graduate/medical education and practical training. Amid both...
Pain is a universal human experience, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood aspects of health. Traditional views often equate pain directly with physical injury, but modern pain science challenges this simplistic understanding. Pain is a multifaceted phenomenon involving sensory, emotional, and cognitive factors. This perspective advocates for a holistic approach to pain management, emphasizing the nervous system's role and empowering individuals to retrain their pain response. Pain and...
The start of summer brings a sense of excitement for many teens. Take a moment to reflect back to your teen years. As we reminisce, we can likely all say that our adolescent years were a unique and informative time of our life. Mental wellbeing habits are often formed during this time as teens strengthen their social and emotional skills, laying a foundation of habits for the rest of their life. Consider what habits you perhaps formed during this time and what supports you had or needed when...
"I am concerned your symptoms are due to Parkinson's disease," is something I have said to numerous patients over the years. This is a degenerative neurologic disease which is common enough that most patients have heard of it or even know someone living with it. Most commonly, the patient or their family might have noticed classic symptoms: a tremor, difficulty with movement like walking, or balance problems. Importantly, not all tremor is Parkinson's, though that is typically the biggest...
As a school psychologist working for a small public school, I remember a teacher asking me to observe a student in her classroom. She expressed concerns about an elementary student's unusual behavior, lack of playing with classmates, lack of communication and even some unusual motor movements, including flapping her hands. This was in 2001, and I was experiencing my first referral for a student who would eventually receive an educational diagnosis of autism. At that time, autism was considered...
Dementia is a progressive condition that results in decline in cognitive function. People with dementia have increasing difficulties with short term memory, thinking, and reasoning. For family members it can be hard to watch the decline in a loved one who is struggling with dementia. Interacting when someone has dementia can be difficult. Following these three Golden Rules can help. Rule number 1: Do not ask direct questions. Asking someone with dementia if they remember your name or remember...
Spring is finally here, and for many of us, that brings the joy of returning to outdoor activities, planning summer vacations, and … well, allergies. Depending on the allergen, people can suffer from allergies any time of year, but spring is a particularly common time in our part of the world to hear my patients complain of seasonal allergies. Allergic rhinitis most commonly manifests as runny nose, congestion, and sneezing. Other symptoms can include cough from postnasal drip or worsening a...
Those of us who make our homes in the rural midwest understand that we face medical challenges our countrymen in more populated areas don't. For example, there are two pediatric rheumatologists in the whole state of South Dakota ... and they are both based in Fargo. In contrast, there are 10 in the Twin Cities with the University of Minnesota alone. In Winner, South Dakota, you are nearly 150 miles away from emergency access to a neurosurgeon, assuming you can go by air. No matter where you are...
When I first moved to Brookings, the primary care physicians took care of their own patients in the hospital. We would round on patients in the morning before clinic or try to sneak over during lunch or after clinic. While I loved taking care of patients in the hospital, it was hard to juggle the responsibilities of both giving my attention to the patients in the hospital while seeing people in the clinic. Any time the hospital nurse had a question, my clinic nurse would have to interrupt a...
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and women. The lifetime risk of developing colon cancer is 1 in 24 for men and 1 in 26 for women. Early detection and treatment are instrumental at improving survival rates and regular screening decreases the risk of colon cancer in the first place. Colonoscopy remains the gold standard for colon cancer screening. While detecting cancer early on is important for survival from any cancer, detecting and removing precancerous...
Over 100 years ago, the gold mining industry of South Africa had a problem: too many workers were dying from pneumonia. They turned to Dr. Almorth Wright, a British physician who had successfully created a vaccine against typhoid fever that saved countless lives of British soldiers in World War I and other wars. Wright and his colleagues developed an inoculation of killed pneumococci bacteria which resulted in a substantial reduction of cases of pneumonia and death in the miners. Pneumonia is...
