health center

SIOUX CENTER – Put on your walking shoes, grab a coworker or friend, and take a relaxing 30-minute stroll on a crisp autumn day. In doing so, you will join with thousands of people across Iowa. Stephanie Van Ruler, Lupe Tapia and Beth Strub of Promise Community Health Center take a stroll in Sioux Center. Promise will host a Healthiest State Walk at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4. Anyone is invited to participate in the 30-minute walk. Promise Community Health Center will serve as one of many statewide hosts for the seventh annual Healthiest State Walk on Wednesday, Oct. 4 . The walk will depart at 12:20 p.m. Anyone is invited to participate. All you have to do is meet on the sidewalk at Promise’s front entrance – located at 338 First Ave. NW, across the street from the Sioux Center city hall. No preregistration is required. The theme for this year’s Healthiest State Walk is: “Walk More. Connect More.” The annual event is part of Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative. “Being physically ac...

SIOUX CENTER – Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center will be on the front lines of tackling the growing opioid epidemic. The health center has been awarded a $166,130 Access Increases in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (AIMS) grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant will enable Promise expand its mental health services and to add substance abuse services – with a particular focus of addressing people’s addiction to opioids, which are drugs used to reduce pain. Promise Community Health Center will expand its behavioral health services, with a particular focus on tackling the growing opioid epidemic, due to the award of a $166,130 federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. In the process, Promise will hire a full-time mental health counselor and increase its behavioral health services from 11 to 32 hours per week. Nancy Dykstra, executive director of Promise, said the grant will allow Promise to expand its...

SIOUX CENTER – Promise Community Health Center will offer two Flu Vaccine Clinics this fall. Promise Community Health Center will offer two Flu Vaccine Clinics this fall: 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 27 and Nov. 1. The influenza vaccines will be free for children through 18 years of age. They will be held at Promise – located at 338 1st Ave. NW, Sioux Center, across from the Sioux Center city hall – on the following dates: 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27; 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1. The influenza vaccine shots are free for youth 18 years old and under and $25 for anyone over 18 years old. Promise also accepts insurance to cover the cost of the flu vaccines. No appointments are necessary. People can walk in at any time during the flu clinics. For children who are between the ages of 6-35 months and who are receiving their first flu vaccines, they will need to get two half doses that are at least 28 days apart. Therefore, parents of those children are encouraged to attend both flu clinic da...

by Derrick Vander Waal SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Babies, babies and more babies. August 2017 was the month filled with babies for the Promise Community Health Center midwifery team. In total, certified nurse midwives Belinda Lassen and Pam Hulstein of Promise attended 12 home births during the baby boom. That was a one-month record for Promise. A third midwife also was on-call in case she was needed. “August was just an incredible month,” Lassen said. “Thank you to all our families for entrusting your care to us.” Here are some fun stats for the 12 babies: Eight were girls; four were boys. The 12 babies were born in 12 different towns. (Ironically, none of the births were in Sioux Center, IA, where Promise is located.) Six babies were born in Iowa; six were born in South Dakota. The distance from the farthest west hometown (Vermillion, SD) to the farthest east (Spirit Lake, IA) was 129 miles; the distance from the farthest north hometown (Baltic, SD) to the farthest south (Merrill, IA) was...

SIOUX CENTER – Patients can have their health information right at their fingertips, wherever they go. Promise Community Health Center officially launched its online patient portal – called MyPromiseChart – today (Tuesday, Sept. 5). Fatima Arteaga, a community care coordinator for Promise Community Health Center, assists a patient with enrolling in Promise's new online patient portal, MyPromiseChart. The portal provides patients with convenient access to their health information. A patient portal is a website that offers people personal access to their health information and medical records, at any time, in a secure fashion. Any Promise patient can sign up for a portal account. Parents can access to the portal for children under 12. “We are implementing the patient portal as part of a new standard of care for our patients – to have electronic access to health records and to communicate online with their health-care team,” said Amy McAlpine, data and compliance specialist for Prom...