Anne Polta
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Anne Polta covers health care, business/economic development and general assignment. Her HealthBeat blog can be found at http://healthbeat.areavoices.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnePolta.
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WILLMAR -- As many as 50 local patients received eye injections with a drug from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy that has been tied to a fungal meningitis outbreak. None have become sick so far, but as a precaution the drug has been removed from the shelves at Affiliated Community Medical Centers, where it had been administered to 50 patients in the eye department, clinic officials said Wednesday. "We stopped using it when the initial scare came out," said Dr. David Newcomer, chief medical officer. "We took everything off the shelf at that point.
WILLMAR -- As many as 50 local patients received eye injections with a drug from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy that has been tied to a fungal meningitis outbreak. None have become sick so far, but as a precaution the drug has been removed from the shelves at Affiliated Community Medical Centers, where it had been administered to 50 patients in the eye department, clinic officials said Wednesday. "We stopped using it when the initial scare came out," said Dr. David Newcomer, chief medical officer. "We took everything off the shelf at that point.
WILLMAR -- At the very least, it's hard work. But if it's done right, creating a health care system that is sustainable for the future can accomplish the triple goal of providing better care and improving community health at a lower cost, Dr. Sanne Magnan told a local audience Tuesday. It's "a huge issue in front of us," she acknowledged.
WILLMAR -- For the past three years, Sandy Rumney, 72, has been going to an exercise class twice a week to strengthen her bones. It's paying off. Not only has it helped her stay active, but it also has resulted in measurable improvement in her bone density. "I've fallen a few times and I definitely think I would have broken something if it hadn't been for this," Rumney said. The Bone Builders class that Rumney attends at the Willmar City Auditorium each week takes aim at one of the more significant health issues faced by older adults: osteoporosis, or thinning of the bones.
WILLMAR -- By next month, the operating board of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission hopes to whittle down a long list of potential goals and identify priorities for the coming year. Board members reviewed the three-page list during a meeting this past week. Steve Renquist, executive director of the Economic Development Commission, called the list "not the final product but an interim." "Many of these are projects we should try and advance," he said. The Economic Development Commission is halfway through a five-year plan of action.
WILLMAR -- A vacant staff position will be filled for an agriculture and renewable energy specialist with Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission. The position will return to part time, however, and the office location that had been maintained on the MinnWest Technology Campus will be closed. This course of action was among the recommendations approved Thursday by the joint operations board of the Economic Development Commission. The operating board's recommendations will be forwarded to the EDC governing board for a decision later this month. The position open
Minnesota has recorded its first two cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza for the 2012-13 season since official monitoring for influenza began Oct. 1, state health officials said Friday. The Minnesota Department of Health Public Health Laboratory confirmed that a 25-year-old Olmsted County woman's illness was caused by the A (H3) strain of the virus and a 12-year old Hennepin County child's illness was caused by a B strain of the virus. The A (H3) strain was not swine-related.
WILLMAR -- A manufacturing showcase in Willmar a year ago was so successful at highlighting the local manufacturing industry and exposing students to potential careers that it's being repeated this year on Oct.