health center

SIOUX CENTER – Emily Tuschen is taking a step up in leadership at Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center. Tuschen has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer from her role as the Clinic Manager. The COO position is a revamping of Promise’s previous Director of operations position, which has been vacant for several months. She said working as the clinic manager at Promise for the past year and a half has been big blessing to her, but she is excited about the challenges of her new role. Emily Tuschen has been promoted to the position of chief operating officer at Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center after serving a year and a half as the clinic manager. She is excited to take her leadership to a new level to help the help center continue to adapt its services into the future. “The more I learn about the programs of Promise, the more I want to know,” Tuschen said. “I have been exposed to surface-level program details and now am challenged to really dig in and rea...

Lorena Ronquillo is serving as a dental assistant trainee at Promise Community Health Center while completing her education at Western Iowa Tech Community College. She will expand her role at Promise after earning her diploma. SIOUX CENTER – Lorena Ronquillo always knew she wanted to go into the medical field, but she wasn’t sure which career to choose. One day, she job-shadowed a dental assistant for school. Then, she knew. That career goal choice now is becoming a reality for Lorena. She recently assumed a part-time dental assistant trainee role at Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center as she completes her dental assistant education at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City. She plans to transition to full time at Promise after earning her diploma in May. “I just love what dental assistants do,” she said. “I love dealing with different patients every day.” Lorena, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, grew up in Rock Valley and graduated from Rock Valley High...

SIOUX CENTER – A trip across the globe to slums in India during college was an eye-opening experience for Kristen Schuler. She observed the importance of family planning and community health while she taught women’s health and hygiene classes. Kristen Schuler, the family planning nurse educator at Promise Community Health Center, answers questions about what family planning services encompass and how the care can benefit them. Schuler, who has served as a registered nurse for Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center since June 2015, noticed women who didn’t consider their own personal health-related matters because they focused on keeping their children fed and happy. She saw large families living in rooms the size of an office cubicle. She talked to a mother who had never heard of birth control or being able to make decisions about family size. “I witnessed how life-changing simple education can be and how awareness of how our bodies are made and how they function has the abil...

SIOUX CENTER – Tears started rolling down Josefina’s face when she heard her diagnosis for breast cancer in July. Her nurse practitioner, Beth Strub of Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center, reassured her, but Josefina feared what was to come. “I started to cry because I heard that this illness is dangerous,” Josefina said in Spanish through an interpreter. “Beth and my nurse told me not to cry, to love myself. They said everything was going to be OK, and they were going to take care of it. Beth said it wasn’t serious, it was just beginning, and they will remove it. I cried the entire time.” That was a sad day, but it also was a day of hope. She entered a time of treatment that was extremely difficult for her, but she is thankful because she knows the outcome could have been much worse if it had not been for the mammogram screening that detected the cancer at an early stage. Josefina, 43, an immigrant from Guatemala who has lived the past eight years in Sioux Center, has had...