22May 2017 by Lynda Waddington
Iowa winnowing of health care begins

Iowa winnowing of health care begins

Gazette Column
News that health care advocates had been dreading came Thursday: Planned Parenthood of the Heartland will shutter a third of it’s Iowa clinics. Locations in Bettendorf, Sioux City, Burlington and Keokuk will close at the end of June. Only one of those locations offered abortion services, and it will continue to provide those procedures until the building is sold. Soon to be lost is what more than 70 percent of Iowans supported — access to family planning services like contraceptives, prenatal vitamins and cancer or other disease screenings. More than 14,000 Iowans utilized the clinics now slated for closure. Planned Parenthood clinics statewide serve nearly half of residents who use publicly-funded family planning services. Looking only at the four counties impacted by the closures, Planned Parenthood clinics served, at a…
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26Mar 2017 by Lynda Waddington
Iowa HIV plan could help rural areas

Iowa HIV plan could help rural areas

Gazette Column
Comprehensive planning and data stockpiling by state officials is now a national case study on how to effectively meet the needs of rural residents with HIV. The details are part of a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Improving Health Outcomes Through Data Utilization,” which highlights six regional initiatives under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Work by the Iowa Department of Public Health, which receives a Part B grant through the Ryan White program, is Chapter One. The prominent placement is partly because Iowa is unusual in the world of HIV/AIDS outreach and care services. That is, about a third of state residents living with HIV/AIDS aren’t in urban areas. They’re scattered throughout the state, many in distinctly rural communities. These individuals often feel stigma regarding…
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15Jun 2014 by Lynda Waddington
Communication, responsibility at core of HIV conviction reversal

Communication, responsibility at core of HIV conviction reversal

Gazette Column
Eastern Iowa man once faced 25 years for consensual encounter The Iowa Supreme Court has effectively set aside the conviction of an Eastern Iowa man who pleaded guilty in 2009 to criminal transmission of HIV. Nick Rhoades, 39, was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was released on probation after serving only a few months. He was also required to register for life as a sex offender. The charges followed Rhoades’ consensual Black Hawk County encounter with another man. Although undergoing treatment for HIV, police and court records indicate Rhoades did not disclose his status to the man before unprotected oral and protected anal sex. Law enforcement became involved a few days after the encounter, when the man learned from a mutual acquaintance that Rhoades was positive. Today’s…
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