By Lori Ehde
The number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the United States has increased by nearly 50 percent in the past 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC further reports that 6 percent of the population has diabetes and the number of diagnoses continues to rise.

According to local health officials, the population in Rock County and southwest Minnesota reflect similar numbers.

"It's an epidemic," said registered dietitian Marg Kuiper. "It used to be we'd diagnose it in people 60 or older. Now, we're finding it in people 40 or younger."

Part of the reason for increasing diagnoses is poor health habits of Americans - particularly obesity and lack of exercise.

But heightened awareness of diabetes is another major reason for increased diagnoses ... and that's a good thing, Kuiper said.

"Cases that may have gone undiagnosed until late stages are now being recognized early on," Kuiper said.

"The more prevention we can do, the more we'll keep people out of the hospital and keep illness at bay."

This all saves money in the long run, which is why Medicare now reimburses patients for diabetes education.

Kuiper and registered nurse Jamie Reisdorfer lead a diabetes education program for Luverne Community Hospital and Medical Center that's recently been certified by the American Diabetes Association.

That means Medicare insurance will pay for up to 10 hours of instruction with Kuiper and Reisdorfer.

"This is good news for our hospital and good news for our community," Kuiper said.

She said it benefits all diabetic patients, because most insurance companies follow Medicare's lead in terms of covering new services.

More important, educated diabetics are living longer, healthier lives.

"The tighter control they have over their blood sugar, the better control they'll have in reducing complications," Kuiper said.

Those can include blurred vision and blindness, heart disease, nervous system disease (numbness in extremities), high blood pressure and kidney failure.

"People with undiagnosed diabetes generally don't feel well," Kuiper said. "They feel better when they get their blood sugar under control."

Diabetes awareness often starts in the examining room, where more doctors are recognizing early signs and symptoms.

If patients are diagnosed with diabetes in the Luverne Medical Center, they're referred to Kuiper and Reisdorfer for education.

The 10 hours of information and education include classroom time, one-on-one appointments and follow-up phone calls.

The women have seen 32 patients since spring and another 10 are signed up for January.

While they are seeing a heavy load of diabetes cases, they say they're glad to make a difference.

"If people who have diabetes keep their numbers in their goal range, they can lead normal lives," Kuiper said. "That's the good news. They now have all the tools they need."

The Luverne medical community has offered diabetes education for years, but now it's presented in a more formal package.

The education is geared toward patients with Type 2 diabetes, which is diagnosed when the body doesn't produce enough insulin or isn't using it efficiently.

Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed when the body suddenly stops producing insulin, and the only treatment is insulin injections.

By Sara Quam
With a national nursing shortage leaving many hospitals and health agencies scrambling, local nursing students are trying to ease the shortfall.

Five of them are graduating from South Dakota State University, Brookings, this week and have already lined up jobs.

They are Jill Dorn, Adrian; Brent Konz, Adrian; Mary Moser, Hills; Ben Nelson, Luverne; and Sara Sestak, Jasper.

As part of their final semester, they worked with Nobles-Rock Public Health under Public Health Nurse Joan Kindt.

She said, "I'm happy local people are going into nursing. We need good, quality people in the field."

Kindt said that Minnesota, along with the rest of the country, has a shortage of nurses to fill positions existing and also lacks students pursuing four-year nursing degrees.

For example, Kindt said that in Minnesota, for every 10 nursing positions opened, just seven are filled.

Rebecca Mauer, a nursing instructor at SDSU, coordinates with Public Health. The relationship between the university and Public Health started six years ago when students began working on their clinicals with Public Health as part of their coursework.

Mauer said she's well aware of the nursing shortage and is also concerned about a shortage of nursing instructors. "We're a real aging profession. Our average age is pretty high," she said.

The next generation
Nursing students at Public Health do valuable work for the agency.

Each made either a presentation on bioterrorism or conducted health screenings for county employees.

Ben Nelson, a Luverne native, is one of the graduates who worked at Public Health. He is also one of a handful of male nursing students at SDSU.

This week he's in Rochester getting ready for his new job at the Mayo Clinic.

"There's a lot of opportunities in nursing," he said. "You can go wherever you want right now, and they'll do just about anything to get you to work there."

Nelson said that although there's a shortage of four-year nursing graduates, he didn't consider becoming a technical school graduate.

"There's more flexibility with the four-year degrees," Nelson said.

He said furthering his education to become a nurse practitioner is a possibility in the future. Nurses can also move into administrative positions and advance in that way.

For now, Nelson is content to be in the field he's pursued. "It was a lot of hard work and time-consuming, but I'm glad I did it," he said.

Ben is the son of Meg and Tom Nelson, Luverne.

By Sara Quam
As soon as February, the county could see major changes in the Extension Office as dictated by the University of Minnesota.

Earlier this year, Extension educators got increased funding from the county - from 28 percent of their wages last year to 40 percent this year.

That increased funding was implemented to make up for a lack of state funds. Now, with an additional $4.5-million state fund shortfall, the Minnesota Extension Service will see a total reconfiguration of services and funding.

Essentially, it will eliminate staff and share duties among counties. Of the 245 educators, nearly 60 are predicted to be cut.

In 2003 Extension budgeted for $375,000 in county contributions. It estimates a savings of $2,500,000 by making the cuts, though.

County Administrator Kyle Oldre said, "The way I see it going is that we will no longer buy time but buy programs."

Chairman Ken Hoime said, "There will certainly be fewer educators to go around. I don't think it'll go over as smoothly as they'e pushing for."

The Rock County Extension Office has been without one position filled for about six months, so local impact may be to not fill that position at all.

Commissioner Wendell Erickson has been a longtime advocate of Extension programs.

Erickson said he doesnÕt like the way itÕs changing to a top-down structure. "A concern I have is that there's going to be less people delivering services, and I think that's been Extension's strong point."

The "county agents" of years past will change their jobs even more. Instead of offering general assistance, an Extension educator will have a special area of expertise and travel to counties in the region to deliver services.

Each county will have a county director who facilitates the services and connects users to the right educator. The director will also access more funding opportunities besides state and county contributions.

One of the biggest roles the Extension takes on is the 4-H program. Erickson said that more questions are left unanswered when the future of that program is considered.

The U of M has said that region educators who are in charge of 4-H can have local assistants who could take on a lot of the necessary tasks of running the program. However, by job description, the assistant would have to be funded totally by the county.

Erickson said that an example of Extension's need is after regional hail storms. Farmers always need attention from the Extension Office in that case. If the expert on crops has to travel through an entire region to assess damage, farmers might miss an opportunity to make a decision, Erickson fears.

"They're setting up layers you've got to get through for the services," Erickson said.

Response time for educators is a concern for Commissioner Jane Wildung too.

She said that through the Rock County Collaborative, she's seen how valuable educators are to community programs. And if they have to travel across a region for a program, driving time and other commitments may impede their usual good services.

With such a tight timeline, the County Commissioners said they are left wondering how it will all work out. But with decisions out of their hands, there's little they can do.

The board decided to write a letter addressing its concerns about future budgets and services and hope for the best.

By Sara Quam
The Fulda man who was injured in an electrical accident in Luverne said, "Things are up in the air," from his room at the Regions Burn Center, St. Paul.

Phillip Kramer, 21, lost the lower third of his left arm to what he said could have been as much as 14,000 volts of electricity.

He wouldn't comment on the specifics of the accident because it is still under investigation by the city of Luverne and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA's reports won't be available for another month.

The city of Luverne hasn't commented so far, either. However, a portion of its Tuesday meeting was closed for an executive session to discuss legal issues surrounding the incident.

Kramer said, "I didn't think it was that risky of a job, but you get used to doing it everyday."

Losing his left hand, his dominant one, is going to be hard for Kramer.

"I'm doing fine," he said. "I'll have to adapt and change, and I think I might be able to still work, but I'm not sure."

The pain is "mostly under control" now, he said. "When I was in Luverne and Sioux Falls, that's the most pain I've ever felt in my life."

Kramer's doctors estimate that he'll be in the Burn Center for about three more weeks.

"I have surgery this week for a skin graft for my leg. The electricity left there," he said.

Kramer said heÕs not suffering emotionally and looks forward to leaving the hospital.

He had been employed by Fulda Electric for two and one-half years when he was injured in Luverne. His company was doing work on the city of Luverne's west substation as part of an electrical upgrading project.

Parts of town experienced a power surge at the time of the accident. South Luverne was out of power for an hour and a half.

By Sara Quam
The Luverne City Council surprised about a dozen residents when it removed the Fledgling Field rezoning ordinance from the agenda.

Cornerstone Construction withdrew its request for rezoning late Tuesday afternoon. It was apparent that the council wouldn't have the two-thirds majority votes needed to pass the ordinance.

Owner Gary Verkinnes has said that if he couldn't develop the property into a funeral home to sell to Dan Dingmann, he would use the two lots to develop housing.

It isn't clear whether old homes would be moved in or duplexes or new homes would be built on the green space.

The zoning ordinance that was removed from Tuesday's agenda, if passed, would have changed the R-1 district into an R-2, which allows funeral homes as a conditional use.

As an R-1 district, Fledgling Field is a purely residential zone that is held in the highest esteem in the city codes. An R-2 district allows more flexibility to property owners because it is considered a higher density residential zone.

Last week the Planning Commission approved the ordinance as a recommendation to the City Council after much debate.

Because the zone is surrounded by R-1 property, it could be considered spot zoning and may have been overturned by state courts if the zone change had been approved.

BIS fallout
After the councilÕs regular meeting, it met with the Luverne Economic Development Authority to discuss Luverne layoffs at Berkley Information Services.

BIS leases its office space from the LEDA, and it's up for renewal in December 2004.

BIS representatives have told the city that they might be out of the building as early as the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003.

Because the layoffs or job transfers are coming in increments, the city is in an awkward position because it has a building available at an undetermined time with workers leaving slowly.

LEDA director Tony Chladek said, "How do we capture the workforce and keep them here? The only answer is to get another business."

Chladek said the labor availability is a bigger draw to a potential business than the building itself, once vacated.

"Our workforce is competent in its knowledge base," Chladek said. "They are overeducated and probably underpaid. We are what businesses are looking for."

A sidebar to the BIS layoffs is the Tri-State Insurance move that is expected to take place in 2003.

Two years ago, W.R. Berkley Corporation, the owner of both Tri-State and BIS, announced that Tri-State would move to Sioux Falls by summer 2001. (Tri-State Insurance is now known as Continental Western Group, Tri-State Region.)

The city wants Tri-State and BIS employees to have a reason to stay in Luverne so the joint bodies gave direction to city staff to start pursuing new businesses to locate in Luverne.

The new businesses may not have the existing offices, but using the workforce is the goal.

The city doesn't necessarily want to entice a competing insurance agency or technology firm to town, but Chladek said the city has to make a sound business decision. And if that means employees would leave the existing businesses for any new ones - that's still jobs for local people.

"We have to make a business decision, just like they do," Chladek said.

LEDA member Nate Golla said that the city's loyalty should be to people who need jobs, not to companies that are taking their business out of town.

"Have they done anything loyal for us other than managing to stay in town this long?" Golla said.

LEDA member Karis Gust said that a competing business would be good for the town. "It would be an industry cluster and create more synergy."

Waiting for both businesses to actually leave town before working on getting new ones would mean lost opportunities, LEDA member Mike Engesser said. "If we wait, the workforce is going to trickle away."

If any new businesses come to Luverne, a temporary office could be set up until the Berkley businesses leave, or a new building altogether may be needed.

"We built BIS; we can build another," Gust said.

Through contacts in the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, Luverne has already gotten word of some businesses interested in locating in the city.

By Lori Ehde
True Value owners Mark and Beth Novotny are sifting through what remains of their store after an early morning fire destroyed part of the building and most of the inventory Friday.

"I still can't believe it," Beth said Tuesday. "I don't know when you really do realize it. I think it's starting to sink in."

Deputy State Fire Marshall Steve Kellen ruled arson as the cause of the fire, which he suspects was set to disguise a burglary.

The company safe, along with more than $1,200 in it, turned up missing when smoke cleared, and pry marks were found on a west door.

More than 40 firefighters from Luverne, Hardwick and Beaver Creek battled the blaze that was first reported at 3:30 a.m. Friday.

Luverne Fire Chief Kurt Kester said the fire was mostly contained by 9 a.m., but he didn't leave the scene until after noon later that day. No one was injured.

Kester said the fire itself was contained to the back room, but "heat and smoke, of course, is what did the damage to the rest of the building," he said.

The back one-fourth of the building is a total loss, but the Novotnys and insurance adjusters are working through the tedious process of assessing damage throughout the store.

"We can show them where the stereos used to be, but you can't even tell it's a stereo from the heat melting it," Beth said. "There's a teeny little blob where this big TV once was."

She said this process is time consuming, but all future plans hinge on the outcome.

They're considering temporarily relocating in the former Jubilee Foods building downtown, but Beth said arrangements would need to be made to heat the building, which now has no furnace.

They said it's too soon to comment on where they'll be long-term.

Because of environmental concerns, cleanup won't be as simple as bulldozing and starting over.

Beth said at least three separate environmental agents will need to be present when cleanup begins to properly dispose of hazardous materials.

Kester said rising heat caused spray paint canisters to explode in the retail area.

"At times we'd hear this pop, pop, pop," Kester said, adding that paint wasn't the only potential hazard to firefighters.

"You look at your average hardware store, and God knows what's in there for chemicals and explosive material, between all the glues, cleaning solvents and fertilizers."

Kester said even more than the threat of explosions, he was concerned about the roof caving in on firefighters inside.

"I was just about to pull them out, and they finally got it under control," Kester said. "I had one guy stationed on a ladder, just to watch the roof."

He said now, when he looks up from inside the building, he can see the rafters are heat warped.

"If this had happened two weeks ago when we had all that snow on the roof, it would have collapsed just from the extra weight of the snow," Kester said.

Firefighters first gained access to the blaze by breaking the front store windows, but the high heat forced them to retreat.

Damage is so far estimated at more than $600,000 on the building and contents destroyed at a time when shelves and storerooms were overstocked for holiday sales.

A new freight shipment worth about $8,000 had just come in Thursday night. That includes 1,200 gallons of paint.

Mark and Beth have owned the Luverne True Value for six years and employ seven people full- and part-time. They said the company and area True Value store owners have been supportive, as have been community members.

"We really do appreciate the support," she said. "We're very thankful for all the acts of kindness - right down to a single kind word. It really does help carry you through."

The Novotnys have store records backed up on computer, but she said it's unknown if the hard drive information will be accessible.

"We're sending the computer hard drives to a company that supposedly can retrieve information off computers that have been in a fire," she said, "but the backup tapes looked kind of melted and stuck together."

The stolen safe weighed about 250 pounds, so investigators assume at least two people were involved in the burglary.

The Novotnys aren't strangers to crime. Just three years ago, burglars stole True Value's safe and caused roughly $2,000 in damage.

A $2,500 reward is offered by the Minnesota chapter of International Arson Investigators for information leading to the identification of persons responsible for Friday's fire. The arson hotline is 1-800-723-2020.

Kellen said he's doing everything he can to solve the case promptly for a community riddled with unsolved crimes.

"This one we've got to try to solve really bad," he said Monday, referring to the unsolved murder of Carrie Nelson this summer. "We can't let this stuff go on."

The fifth-grade class of Cloyce Smith and Michelle Johnson are the Luverne Elementary featured class of the week. Pictured are (front row, from left) Missy Olson, Abby Elbers, Kayla Raddle, Casey Smook, Andrew MIller, Courtney Swenson, Alanna Huston, (second row) Matt Van Grootheest, Amanda Ganun, Nicole Baker, Chad DeSplinter, Jake Stoltenberg, Mark VonHoltum, Katelyn Brands, Dalton Heller, (back) Mrs. Smith, Matt Fodness, Taylor Van Santen, Zack Olson, Skyler Hoiland, Brent Dinger, Shane Oehlerts, Steven Ehlers, Sara McClure, Lindsey VonAllmen and Ms. Johnson.

The class has been working hard on learning about polygons. "They are increasingly experiencing success in achieving their Accelerated Reading points," Johnson said. "The class is also humming with excitement with the holiday season approaching."

Photo by Lori Ehde

A Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System semi-trailer slid off an icy Interstate 90 Friday at 7:30 a.m. between Luverne and Beaver Creek. The driver was treated and released from Luverne Community Hospital. The semi was used as a mobile CT scanning facility that traveled to hospital outlets in the area. Luverne’s hospital used the unit on Fridays and Tuesdays. Appointments in Luverne won’t need to be changed because a replacement unit is ready for use.

Luverne Community Hospital Administrator Jerry Carl said the CT scanner itself is worth about $500,000. All the contents of the trailer will likely have to be replaced for a total cost of nearly $1 million. Carl said the Luverne hospital is in the process of analyzing its use of the mobile unit and is looking into ways of setting up a permanent scanner within the hospital.

Photo by Sara Quam

Edward Sundem, 90, Hills, died Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001, at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., after having surgery.

Funeral services were Friday, Dec. 7, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hills. The Rev. Lowell Berg officiated. Burial was in Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery, Hills.

George Edward Sundem was born to Halvor and Mary (Pederson) Sundem on April 14, 1911, near Hills. He attended country school near Hills. After his education he began farming near Hills until 1951. Along with farming he did trucking, sold pigs and Pride seed corn.

He married Rose Nelson on June 3, 1957, in Hills. They lived in Dell Rapids, S.D. Mrs. Sundem died in November 1971. He moved to Hills in July 1977. He married Hannah (Jelle) Forest on Oct. 15, 1977, in Sioux Falls. They lived in Hills. Mrs. Sundem died on Sept. 16, 1999. He moved to Lyon Manor Nursing Home in Rock Rapids, Iowa, in January 1997. He moved to Tuff Memorial Home in Hills on March 18, 1997.

Survivors include one sister-in-law, Palma Sundem, Hills; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Mr. Sundem was preceded in death by his parents, two wives, two brothers, Henry and Elmer, and five sisters, Anne Thomas, Tina Erickson, Mollie Beck, Minnie Odde and an infant sister, Alice.

Roste Funeral Home, Hills, was in charge of arrangements.