OSKALOOSA — The Mahaska and Poweshiek County Extension offices will host a free, one-hour learning session for private well owners on Thursday November 7. The program will help attendees understand their well’s water quality and connect them to resources to manage their well.

The free program will take place on Thursday November 7 from 6-7 pm at the New Sharon City Park Building located at 108 North Pearl Street in New Sharon.  Registration is requested by November 4.  To register, use https://go.iastate.edu/ICGWY1  or contact the Mahaska County Extension office by phone 641-673-5841 or email striegel@iastate.edu or the Poweshiek county Extension office by phone 641-623-5288 or email clents@iastate.edu .

Did you know that Iowa has a unique funding source for free or low-cost annual testing of private wells? Or that some water pollutants are odorless, tasteless and will not be removed by boiling water? If you’re curious about the answers to these questions, then take advantage of the upcoming learning session which will detail how to test your well and who can help, common contaminants, and factors that affect well water quality.

The program will be taught by Catherine DeLong, Water Quality Program Manager for ISU Extension and Outreach. According to DeLong, “About 230,000 Iowans rely on private wells as their home’s main water source, yet many do not know they should be testing once a year and that Iowa has a unique funding source to help cover the cost of testing.”

OSKALOOSA — Mahaska Health is pleased to welcome Jay Blomme, MD, a board-certified Family Medicine Physician and Sports Medicine Physician who specializes in Pain Management to their esteemed team of healthcare providers. 

Dr. Blomme completed his medical degree at the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, where he was a member of the Carver Rural Iowa Scholarship Program. He completed his residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by a fellowship in Sports Medicine. His experience includes providing medical coverage at various sports events and clinics, enhancing his proficiency in musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine. 

Alongside serving patients on the Mahaska Health campus, Dr. Blomme will also be providing more sideline coverage at Oskaloosa and William Penn sporting events. Adding to the Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine team, with more Fellowship-trained Orthopaedic Specialists than anyone in the region, Dr. Blomme will provide innovative solutions and the latest technology to help community members enjoy an active, pain free life. Mahaska Health’s Orthopaedics department is recognized with the Joint Replacement Excellence Award by Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa, the organization’s commitment to providing physician-led healthcare in the region.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Blomme join our Orthopedics and Sports Medicine teams,” shared Jon Gehrke, MD, FAAOS, Mahaska Health Chief of Staff and Orthopaedic Medical Director. “His expertise will further enhance our ability to help our patients achieve their best health, whether they’re recovering from an injury or striving to improve their athletic performance.”

Dr. Jay Blomme recently relocated to Oskaloosa with his wife, Erica Blomme, MD, who also practices at Mahaska Health, as a Hospitalist on the Internal Medicine Team. The Blomme Doctors are looking forward to becoming involved in the community.

PELLA — Central College is honored to welcome humanitarian Heidi Kuhn, 2023 World Food Prize Laureate, to campus 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, Van Emmerick Studio, Maytag Student Center.

Kuhn, founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, is a peace activist who has spent more than 25 years restoring agriculture in former conflict zones. Her farmer-focused development model revitalizes farmland, food security, livelihoods and resilience after devastating conflict. Kuhn founded the nonprofit Roots of Peace in 1997 to replace the remnants of war with farmland. The organization also trains farmers in modern agricultural practices, from planting and harvesting to marketing through international exports.

Kuhn grew her business model for peace across the world with the support of governments, international organizations and the private sector. To date, the work of Roots of Peace has impacted more than 1 million farmers and members of farming families, spanning 10 countries.

Kuhn was raised with the values of respecting the earth and its people, ideals established by her family who were early pioneers in the 1800s. A fifth-generation Californian, she attended the University of California, Berkeley majoring in political economics, where those core beliefs were strengthened during the peace movement of the 1970s, setting forth a lifelong commitment to pioneering the footsteps of peace.

During the early 1990s, Kuhn owned her own television news organization, NewsLink International, reporting for CNN and other news organizations in Alaska on the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the melting of the “ice curtain” between the United States and the Soviet Union. Raising her children in Juneau, Alaska, she earned a reputation for bridging borders for peace -reporting for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Nippon Television and other major media organizations.

After overcoming a cancer diagnosis, Kuhn further embraced the core values she was raised with when she saw an opportunity to eradicate another form of cancer – that of landmines, which she viewed as a cancer to the Earth. From the basement of her home, she built a vision of turning “Mines to Vines” – replacing the remnants of war with bountiful vineyards and orchards of peace around the world.

The World Food Prize is an international award that recognizes and rewards individuals who address food security by improving quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Central College has been a proud partner in this mission, hosting the lecture for years in conjunction with the World Food Prize Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

Central’s World Food Prize Lecture will be recorded and available on the Central Dutch Network.