Apples: Take Your Pick

If you’re looking for something to do this Saturday – and the weather is supposed to be wonderful – head on over to Woodbine, Iowa, for the 20th Annual Applefest. We had the pleasure of meeting three Woodbine residents who were staffing the Main Street Iowa Program booth at the Iowa State Fair. That’s how we found out about this event.

Patt Kneen, Patty Reisz, and Roger Kenkel of Woodbine

Here’s just a few of the activities, starting with a pancake breakfast at 6:30 a.m. in the REC building.

• Classic Car Show
• Quilt Show
• Tractor Show
• Doll Show
• Merry Brook School & Geneological Society Tours
• Depot & Caboose Tours
• Flea Market
• Craft Show
• Archery 3-D & Fun Shoot
• Children’s Activities
• Apple Bake-Off
• Entertainment

If you like to eat, how about apple pie, cider slush, chicken noodle dinner, onion blossoms, grilled ribeye sandwiches, homemade ice cream, and caramel apples? There will be apple vendors there, too. And there’s NO admission fee. (Flier)

Just for fun, here’s an apple picking guide for Woodbine.

Call 712-647-3434 for more information.

A New Look for AroundDesMoines.com

You might have noticed – we’re working on a facelift for AroundDesMoines.com!

We have a new look that features six tabs across the top so that we can highlight posts.

And there are four main categories just below that:

• Facing Des Moines: Putting faces on everyday people and telling some of their story
• Life is Political: What’s happening in our lives that intersects politics
• Community: Events and services around Des Moines that you might want to discover
• The City: History, architecture, museums, parks, and places

Note the featured photo and video to the right in the site. We’ll change those from time to time. Maybe bi-weekly, weekly, maybe more. We’ll see. It depends on you.

Do you have something to submit? We’d be happy to find guest writers and contributors who want to write about the city, events, politics, or their favorite cause. Write about what you love. (Submission guidelines)

It’s a great way to show off your writing or photography skills and reach a wider audience.

Contact us at 515.745.9978 or life@arounddesmoines.com

Thanks to Jesse Petersen at Perfectly Petersen for updating WordPress and tweaking our new Revolution City template. Click here to view more details

Note: If you’re keeping up with us in a feed reader you might notice that we’re republishing some of our posts so they work in our new categories. (Sorry about that. We’ll be done with our housekeeping soon.)

Reporting food poisoning in Des Moines

Do you live in Polk County Iowa? Have you ever suspected you had food poisoning and wondered how to report it? I’ll show you how.

This year food poisoning is in the news on a daily basis; unfortunately in my household we may have had our own personal brush with a foodborne illness.

Four weeks ago two of us got sick about 12 hours after eating – same restaurant; same menu items; same symptoms; same timing; same sense of which food was responsible. When I Googled the symptoms, the hits displayed said salmonella, salmonella, salmonella, salmonella, which is much in the news although its exact sources are still a mystery. Here is what they are saying:

• CDC
• Associated Press (You Tube video as seen on Google news; go to +video)
• Globe and Mail (an opinion piece from Canada)
• Arizona Republic (on-line)
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on-line)
• seattlepi.com (on-line)

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), our federal watchdog agency, knows it is very important to track and record outbreaks of food poisoning in order to discover and eliminate the source. Thus once I was back on my feet, I started my quest to report two suspected cases of food poisoning. I Googled “report food poisoning” and “Des Moines Iowa.” Lots of hits but not one hit was relevant to reporting food poisoning in Des Moines.

I perused the web sites of the Health Department of Polk County and the Department of Health of the State of Iowa. I didn’t find even the slightest suggestion of a place to report food poisoning.

Lacking information, what better place to start than the Polk County Health Department? I went to the web site on a Saturday, found a contact address, and sent an email with information. I got a call back on Monday informing me that the Polk County Health Department “has nothing to do with that; call the State Department of Inspections.” When I asked if the county keeps records of such outbreaks, I got an instant  reply, “Do you want the number or not?” As Steve Martin used to say, “Well, excuuuuuse me!!!!”

In contrast, my reception at the State offices was helpful, cordial, and to the point. Judy Harrison is the Bureau Chief for Food and Consumer Safety for the State of Iowa. When she found out that I wanted information, she called me back promptly. Between Bureau Chief Judy Harrison, Administrative Assistant Terri Duden, and the website I know exactly how to report suspected food poisoning.

How to report food poisoning in Polk County

Go directly to File a Complaint with the Proper Agency.

(If you were starting from the State of Iowa web site you would have to go through a series of pages State of Iowa, Health and Human Services, Agencies, Inspections and Appeals, Informed Dining, View an Inspection Report, before you would get to where you want to be which is File a Complaint with the Proper Agency.)

Once on the File a Complaint with the Proper Agency page, you can enter the appropriate food source (restaurant for example), minimal information (a single word is sometimes enough) about the establishment (restaurant) name, or address, or city, or county, or ZIP and the database will return Search Results, most likely a specific restaurant. By selecting the establishment (restaurant) name in the search results you are directed to a page on which you can really report your illness (on a page also called File a Complaint). This complaint form will ask for your name, phone number, date of visit (to the restaurant), and a description of your complaint. Once submitted, a proper regulatory authority will investigate.

The question that I asked Bureau Chief Judy Harrison was, “How does the reported data get translated into identification of the origin of an outbreak of food poisoning?” The answer? The individual reports make their way to the Iowa Department of Health and they do the epidemiology. I especially like the word origin as noted by Wikipedia: epidemiology, “the study of what is upon the people…”, that is, what sort of plague has beset the people and where is it headed? If you really want to know about epidemiology of infectious disease, check out the lecture materials in an open course from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.  At a national level the epidemiology is done by CDC, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. You will find current information on Salmonella, West Nile Virus, Fluoridation, and the 2008 Olympics (plus lots more).

And finally something you might not want to know: CDC estimates there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness per year in the U. S. Most but not all are trivial. Several are considered more serious, e.g., Salmonella, E. coli, hepatitis A.

So now you know how to report foodborne illness in Polk County, Iowa. I hope you don’t have to.

photo on Flickr by Aleutia.

→ No Comments

Contributions Will Be Missed

Long-time contributor M.R. Field is leaving AroundDesMoines.com. She intends to devote her time to her paying job, as well as working on poetry and fiction, and posting commentaries at MRF Communications.

She has made hundreds of unique contributions to this site, and they have been appreciated throughout the community. I will miss her support and insightful comments on the arts, events, school board and transportation.

Thanks for your energy and tireless promotion to involve others in the community! I wish you success in your endeavors.

Writer: Sandy Renshaw is a self-employed communications consultant. You will also find her blogging at Purple Wren.

Farewell from M.R. Field

This is the last post I am writing for AroundDesMoines.com. This site was started by Sandy Renshaw in January 2007 to showcase the range of activities in Iowa. I started writing posts in May 2007. Items I wrote on Project Destiny in June revealed that Iowans wanted old-fashioned news stories. Then I noticed that readers were searching for reviews, so I started reviewing various theatrical and other arts around town. I’m still amazed at the number of people who email those reviews to friends and acquaintances but I take pride in the fact that my reviews did not automatically glorify all things Des Moines.

In September 2007 I wanted to see what would happen to readership numbers if I posted something daily. Readers reacted positively so I tried to keep up that pace for the past ten months. To help me provide a consistent product, I covered the local school board meetings and wrote a weekly column on upcoming weekend activities. I also provided regular information on activities at the state capitol during the legislative session and on issues of transportation in and around Des Moines. When the 2008 floods hit Iowa, because I had already been writing about floodplain issues and responded to readers’ demands for more news, AroundDesMoines.com recorded a significant number of unique visitors in one week. My Fourth of July posts produced another exceptionally high volume week.

Behind the scenes Sandy and I were talking about the format for and the structure of the blog for several months. There were also discussions about how to balance Sandy’s styles of blogs based on personal interests with the style of a general newspaper towards which I was aimed. I came to believe that this blend of styles can deliver a profitable business. However, for that success to be achieved there needs to be a solid foundation on which the two sides can flourish. The schizophrenia that exists in AroundDesMoines.com was visible to anyone who looked at the writer’s guidelines.

Sandy brought Internet networking to the site. I brought publishing experience. Other people made their own unique contributions. Sandy and I have different business goals, though, and we have not been able to reach agreement on how the site can fit into both of our plans. Since Sandy owns the site, I am the one who is leaving.

Because I finally reached the limit of my self-funded finances after trying for a few years to create a quality small-scale integrated media empire, I had to take a paying job. I do not have the time, the energy, or the money left to start another news blog and to continue providing the reporting people in central Iowa so desperately need. I look forward to having time to work on some fiction and poetry, as well as my MRF Communications website where I will once again post commentaries.

Yours truly,

M.R. Field.

A Memorable Night for the Iowa Cubs

The great successes of the Chicago Cubs are being matched by their AAA farm team, the Iowa Cubs. Our Cubs are getting strong and consistent performances at all positions with notable contributions from Felix Pie, Jason DuBois, hitter-of-the-week Micah Hoffpauir, and five other starters all hitting over .275.

Jeff Samardzija, former University of Notre Dame star in both football and baseball picked up his third win in four starts on Wednesday night. The 5-2 win in the second game of a double header against Round Rock kept the Cubs in first place in their division.

Hard-hitting outfielder Jason DuBois had a career game, hitting three towering home runs in three at bats in game two. The same two teams play Thursday July 10 but then won’t return home until Friday July 18.

Principal Park is a wonderful baseball stadium, and the Iowa Cubs are playing great baseball. Head on out.

Photo by James Lindberg.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Helping hands around Des Moines – an update

In January 2008 I published a list of support groups and helping agencies around Des Moines. Six months later it seems like a good time to update the list and repair broken and altered links.

Iowa 2-1-1 is an extensive searchable information and referral database for health and social service and funded by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Very much on the mind of every Iowan in July 2008 are flood recovery and the services available.

Federal support services for flooded states are listed on the FEMA site including the application procedures.

Applications can be made on-line or by phone. Call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or for TTY 1-800-462-7585.

The specific types of assistance are more than you might imagine. The local FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at Harding Middle School in Des Moines is closed now but on-line and phone are still available. Many other DRCs are still open in other parts of the state.

Information for the State of Iowa’s 2008 Flood Resource Center includes links.

The Red Cross provides and has provided direct and immediate assistance, and

United Way of Central Iowa as well.

AmeriCorps is seeking summer 200 summer associates and 30 VISTAs to provide direct and immediate assistance to those trying to get back into their homes including people in Central Iowa.

Meeting Professional International lists multiple agencies collecting funds for flood relief including the local groups

• Embrace Iowa
• The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines which is coordinating volunteers and direct assistance and
• The Iowa Hospital Association collecting funds for disaster relief for Iowa hospital employees.

So much help is needed for this unparalleled 2008 flood.

Both planned and unplanned pregnancy are life changing events. Here are some of Des Moines’ options for family planning, pregnancy, birth and adoption:

Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa provides education and services related to birth control, pregnancy and sexual health.

A New Beginning is a Catholic Charities organization providing free pregnancy options counseling.

Ruth Harbor is a Christ-centered home for young women dealing with unplanned pregnancy.

Mercy Medical Center has an easily navigable, free education site called Pregnancy Health Center with multiple layers of very specific and helpful information. It’s a gold mine. Mercy’s Women and Infants’ Center site can also lead you to tours and medical help.

Iowa Health offers a number of support groups, classes and instruction on pregnancy, childbirth and infant care, many free of charge.

For a families in varying degrees of distress there are many options.

Children & Families of Iowa provides a variety of services in support of distressed families including foster care and adoptions, family-centered counseling, substance abuse programs for teens, child care programs and referrals, and other therapies.

Lutheran Services in Iowa has services available for adoption, early childhood, home healthcare, refugee resettlement, residential treatment, disability services, and family services. Some of these services are offered jointly with Catholic Charities.

The Family Violence Center provides emergency safe shelter and support for victims of domestic violence and their children.

Polk County Crisis and Advocacy Services offers crisis intervention and ongoing support services to victims of violent crimes.

On a happier note for a families operating with normal stresses there are other options.

Parenting Monthly is a site linking local and national websites for everything from family communication, education, public television, YMCA, Young Women’s Resource Center, Visiting Nurse Services, resources for dads, and many other topics. Contacts but no links for 27 other local groups are found elsewhere.

The La Leche League of Des Moines Iowa helps mothers and mothers-to-be with all aspects of breastfeeding.

Young women in their adolescent transition are supported in particular by the Young Women’s Resource Center.

Six months ago high energy costs associated with transportation were not taking such a large bite out of our food budget. The Des Moines area has services for all families and for families with more pressing needs. Everyone can participate in the first of these programs.

Angel Food Ministries is a Georgia based food ministry dedicated to relief of hunger throughout the United States. The local group works from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and is available to everyone, not just those in need.

For those with greater need the Des Moines Area Religious Council has food pantries at sites all across the metro.

The City of Des Moines has a site linking the food pantries and listing other low-income services.

The stress of a homeless individual or family in Des Moines in any season would be hard for any of us to imagine. Des Moines has shelters.

Hope Ministries is a Christ-centered ministry for homeless, hungry, and hurting. They provide food, shelter, clothes and furnishings for men, women and children, as well as an addiction recovery center and transitional living services.

Central Iowa Shelter and Services once called Churches United Shelter provides shelter services for homeless adults.

For families The Home Connections sponsors transitional housing and supportive services for homeless families.

The New Directions Shelter gives emergency shelter for homeless women with children.

St. Joseph Emergency Family Center one of the arms of Catholic Charities provides emergency shelter for up to five homeless families with each family living together.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides a host of programs nationally including thrift stores providing clothing and household items. The local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store is found at 1426 6th Avenue.

Youth Emergency Services & Services provides emergency shelter for youths 10-17, crisis nursery and counseling.

In the longer term other groups support families in their quest for stable housing.

Refugee Resettlement Services is a joint venture of Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services with a mission to resettle refugees and their families.

Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity is our branch of the international non-profit Christian housing ministry founded in 1976 and providing home ownership opportunities for qualified low-income families. Habitat for Humanity has an interesting history. Habitat’s ReStore in Des Moines sells new and used home improvement items to the public at a discount with proceeds supporting Habitat’s mission.

Home, Inc. is a non-profit organization helping low income families improve their housing situations by counseling, advocacy and legal assistance directed toward ownership or renting.

Iowa ACORN is part of a national organization called Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Goals include fair and affordable housing, elimination of predatory lending practices, and reform of utility service termination practices. Iowa ACORN is located at 2000 Walker St., Suite L and their phone number is 263-4315.

As sincere and well-intentioned as we all might be, sometimes we manage to get into trouble anyway. Imagine! Here are several groups for people dealing with addiction. The following 4 groups are financially self-supporting and decline outside contributions.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a site featuring local contacts and meeting schedules for those desiring a 12 Step approach to recovery from alcoholism.

Al-Anon and Al-Ateen is a site with local contacts and meeting schedules for families desiring a 12 Step approach to dealing with alcoholism in a family member or friend.

Overeaters Anonymous is a site with local contacts, meeting schedules, and information for those desiring a 12 Step approach to recovery from overeating.

Gamblers Anonymous is a site with a meeting schedule for those desiring a 12 Step approach to recovery from gambling addiction.

Other groups and programs assist with addiction problems.

The Iowa Gambling Prevention and Treatment Program is a program for problem gamblers offered through the State of Iowa Department of Public Health.

Teen Challenge of the Midlands is a Christ-based approach to curing additions in those 18 and older. You can see the facility on the hill looking south as you pass by Colfax on I-80.

House of Mercy is the Mercy Hospital-based transitional housing and clinical services for parenting women with addiction.

In the area of mental health

NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has an Iowa Branch with support groups, classes, speakers, and many other resources.

Suicide.org is dedicated to suicide prevention, awareness and support in Iowa and Des Moines while the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to the issues surrounding suicide.

In case you hadn’t noticed, there is no getting around this aging business.

Be sure to check out Aging Resources of Central Iowa, a comprehensive set of links and lists of resources available to older Iowans. It is a wonderful site. It lists hundreds of resources and activities supporting the normal process of aging. Some may need help searching for services since there are lots of options and drop down menus.

For those encountering difficulty with two common disorders of age there are Alzheimer’s support groups and educational resources are available through the Greater Iowa Chapter of alzheimer’s association.

Parkinsonism support is available through American Parkinson Disease Association.

Are you looking for a support group or education on a specific disease or condition?

ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease? This support group is for those affect by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and includes links to the national website.

Amanda the Panda works to restore grieving children and families back into the mainstream of their lives supported, validated, encouraged and empowered to go on.

The Source offers support and contacts for families affected by autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and pervasive development disorders.

The Iowa Department for the Blind has a website.

Cancer is behind heart disease as the primary disease of Americans but here is an excellent list of online resources and links about cancer from Mercy Medical.

The American Cancer Society has a local office and phone (8364 Hickman Ste D, (515)253-0147) along with regular activities and a limited local website.

Celiac disease is an under-diagnosed autoimmune disorder caused by exposure to a gluten protein found in wheat. If you have it, you appreciate help.  The Celiac Sprue Association in Iowa  was kind enough to write following my first “helping groups” post in January 2008. Our local association even has a list of restaurants and stores that are gluten free friendly. The national Celiac Sprue Association has a site as well.

Another celiac disease site provides on-line support for people with celiac disease and a local support chapter of R.O.C.K. – Raising Our Celia Kids. Des Moines does not have a chapter in the Celiac Disease Foundation.

For cerebral palsy the State of Iowa with its site 4 My Child has resources available to families affected by cerebral palsy and many other disabilites.

Childserve in Johnston serves children with special health needs.

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America shows Iowa and Des Moines activities and help for patients and families of those with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and is dedicated to finding a cure for both.

The Defeat Diabetes Foundation, Inc. is a health system sponsored site for education, services, and support for diabetics and families.

Up with Down is a Des Moines group affiliated with the National Down Syndrome Society.

Epilepsy Foundation supports those dealing with the neurological condition sometimes referred to as seizure disorder. Look for support and programs in the Des Moines area or for more general information in the wider area of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome lists resources available in Iowa for families affected by fetal alcohol syndrome.

Unfortunately there are no fibromyalgia support groups with web presence within 100 miles of Des Moines; however, Mercy Medical has an excellent fibromyalgia educational site.

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America seeks to improve the lives of people with Huntington’s disease and their families. They meet locally.

Iowa Health offers a number of support groups, many free of charge including

• ABC (After Breast Cancer)
• Colorectal Cancer Support Group
• Diabetes Support Group
• Live Well
• Ostomy Support Group
• Others are listed on a general page

Iowa Lyme Disease Network is an educational resource for medical providers and the public.

American Lung Association of Iowa has support groups and information for those affected by a variety of abnormal lung conditions.

Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. has an email address to the local chapter and access to information about lupus.

You can also find a good list of links to community health charities including many already cited.

Mercy Medical Center has a variety of risk prevention programs available.

The Community Partners of the United Way of Central Iowa provides an interesting list of links to community partners, some of which might be useful.

Don’t forget this site. Iowa 2-1-1 is an extensive searchable information and referral database for health and social service and funded by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Be pleased and proud that so much help is available in our community.

Photo by Flickr by Jason Hudson.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Home Sales in Des Moines

According to several realtors and mortgage brokers I know in the metro area, home sales are better than we hear about in the news. After all, fear sells more soap than good news.

There’s many options to sell your house. If you choose to do it yourself, there is a new website – Hawkeye FSBO – that lists real estate in Iowa that is for sale by owner. This is a free listing. Check it out! I talked to the owner of the site and he created this site because he noticed there are a lot of FSBO homes for sale around town but not a simple way to find them online.

What is involved in selling your own house? A post titled “For Sale by Owner in Iowa” by Matt Gardner on the Iowa Law Blog may answer some of those questions. It’s probably a good idea to retain the services of a good real estate attorney to help you through the legalities.

Listed below are links to Amazon for books about selling your own home. I didn’t realize so many people are choosing this option. Have you sold your own house or purchased a home that was for sale by owner? How was the experience? Would you recommend it?

Writer: Sandy Renshaw is a self-employed communications consultant. You will also find her blogging at Purple Wren.

Restoring Photos Damaged in the Flood

Now that the flood waters are beginning to recede, people are able to get in and assess damage. One of the most heart-wrenching things is the loss of precious photos. They cannot be replaced. However, they may be able to be restored. There is an organization called Operation Photo Rescue that was started after Katrina and they are open to helping where they can in Iowa. They are a network of volunteers who can repair photographs damaged by natural disasters – at no cost to the owner.

And, there is a local photographer who is involved – Kevin Barber of Barber Photography. He is gathering other volunteers who may be able to help.

Contact him today if you can help, or if you have damaged photos and need help.

Here’s tips for salvaging flood and water damaged photos. It’s important to take immediate action – and the right steps.

Writer: Sandy Renshaw is a self-employed communications consultant. You will also find her blogging at Purple Wren.