CARES Act

Health and human provider relief fund allocations in Iowa as of June 18, 2020

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This story is part of a nationwide collaboration of Institute for Nonprofit News members examining the affect COVID-19 is having on rural health care. IowaWatch reporting in this project was made possible by support from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.

Relief payments distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration have gone to the following Iowa health care providers, as of June 18, 2020. The funds come via two 2020 laws — the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act — during the COVID-19 pandemic. These data show updates from databases IowaWatch published May 19, 2020, and June 3, 2020. This database expands from the previous ones and shows all health care provider distributions in Iowa.

federal aid

Health and human provider relief fund allocations to Iowa hospitals, as of June 3, 2020

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This story is part of a nationwide collaboration of Institute for Nonprofit News members examining the affect COVID-19 is having on rural health care. IowaWatch reporting in this project was made possible by support from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.

Relief payments distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration have gone to the following Iowa hospitals, as of June 3, 2020. The funds come via two 2020 laws — the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act — during the COVID-19 pandemic. These data show updates from a database IowaWatch published May 19, 2020. In some instances, one hospital’s distribution might be part of a larger payment given to a corporation to which that hospital belongs.

Election

24 rural Iowa counties opt for single polling site amid COVID-19 concerns

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Voters in one Iowa county of 9,000 cast their ballots the same way people purchase a Big Mac: in the drivethrough. The Bloomfield Fire Department, the usual polling location for Bloomfield, served all of Davis County’s eight sites this year. Cars could pull into the emptied equipment bays — where the firetrucks normally sit — and drivers could vote behind the wheel and then pull forward to exit. All across Iowa, COVID-19 precautions changed the 2020 primary with a huge vote-by-mail push and other steps like curbside or drive-through options happening Tuesday. Rural counties, with fewer options for buildings, got creative.

Center News

Tell us about your mental health struggles amid COVID-19, other disasters

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We’re digging into the stressful toll of wildfires, hurricanes and floods — and now COVID-19 on top of them. We need your help. Every year, weather-related disasters ravage communities across the United States, creating scenes traumatic and, increasingly, familiar. Deadly firestorms throughout the West. Historic floods in the Farm Belt. Catastrophic hurricanes with record rains in the South and along the East Coast.

federal aid

Health and human provider relief fund allocations to Iowa hospitals, as of May 13, 2020

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This story is part of a nationwide collaboration of Institute for Nonprofit News members examining the affect COVID-19 is having on rural health care. IowaWatch reporting in this project was made possible by support from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.

Relief payments distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration have gone to the following Iowa hospitals. The funds come via two 2020 laws — the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act — during the COVID-19 pandemic. These data are of May 13, 2020, and can change because of updates. Healthcare providers have 45 days from the day they receive each of the fund distributions to attest to receiving payment and agree to terms and conditions, Susan Horras, vice president for finance policy at the Iowa Hospital Association, wrote in an email to IowaWatch.

Regulation

FDA clears Iowa sanitizer maker of making false claims about COVID-19

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared an Iowa hand sanitizer company of making misleading claims about its product’s ability to “mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19.” Prefense LLC, of Muscatine, faced an April 23 FDA complaint that made the company the nation’s first manufacturer to get an FDA warning letter claiming the firm marketed a hand sanitizer with unproven COVID-19-related claims.

Fighting COVID-19 in Iowa

COVID-19 scuttles jobs, internships for Iowa’s college students

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Paige Marsh went through five interviews before getting a job offer from a national insurance company, headquartered in Des Moines, back in January. “I have been in touch with the company every month since I signed my offer letter,” Marsh, a senior business administration major at Wartburg College,  said. “And then I just got the call about the company freezing all new hires until 2021.”

She will continue to search for work in the meantime. College students, like Marsh, who are ready to hit the job market, now find positions hard to find or internships have been postponed or canceled. The jump to the “real world” is typically full of anxiety and uncertainty for seniors — and this year is no different with COVID-19 unsettling the job market.

college

Job hunting advice

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A virtually connected group of professionals, Keeping Educated Youth in Des Moines, hosted a webinar April 24. Included were tips for how seniors can go about obtaining a job in a pandemic. 

Tips for seniors from the panel:

Network. Getting on LinkedIn and connecting with people who are in your preferred career path is a great start to getting into the industry. Expect hiring to return. Students should expect after the sharp decline in hires that there will be a sharp incline in hires when work restrictions are lifted.