Progress 2019 Business & Health

Business &

Progress Health SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 • ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

RECYCLING 101 48,000 pounds of recyclables move through the Waste Management facility in Clarks Grove daily

By Colleen Harrison

colleen.harrison@albertleatribune.com

CLARKS GROVE — Pizza delivery boxes, plastic bags and styrofoam — just a few of the things that can’t be recycled, yet show up all too often at the Clarks Grove Waste Management facility.

A lot of people like to recycle, but not all of them understand what all goes into residential recycling, according to Jay Behrends,

a residential route manager for the facility.

The facility has about 26 employees, with 16 trucks servicing its recycling pickup areas — eight of which are residential recycling trucks. Behrends said in addition to covering Albert Lea, the facility covers Ellendale, Manchester, Freeborn, Twin Lakes, Glenville, Emmons, Waseca, Waldorf, Owatonna and a portion of northern Iowa that extends from around Lake Mills

to Forest City.

Behrends said about 6,000 homes are serviced in Albert Lea each week, or about 1,300 homes a day.

Each day, he said about 48,000 pounds of recyclables move through the facility.

A typical day for residential route drivers consists of picking up curbside recycling and then bringing the materials back to the Clarks Grove facility, where it’s all compacted before being shipped off

to Blaine, where it’s sorted (including the removal of non-recyclable materials) before being sold. About two or three semi-truck loads are shipped out each day from the Clarks Grove plant.

Behrends said there is some misunderstandings among the general public about what can and can’t be recycled. Items that have come in to direct contact with food, such as See RECYCLE, Page 2

YES

NO

ENERGY

NATURE

Aluminum cans and glass bottles are the most recycled items locally

Styrofoam, plastic bags and pizza or other takeout boxes cannot be recycled, though people often try to anyway

Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours

Recycling a 3-foot-high stack of newspaper saves one tree

According to Recycle Across America, recycling one ton of plastic bottles saves the equivalent energy usage of a twoperson household for one year. Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours, and recycling a 3-foot stack of newspaper saves one tree.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

WHAT’S INSIDE?

Helping others realize dreams

Keeping it natural

Urology clinic opens in A.L.

Making a comeback

The Pet Authority owner starts new retail consulting business. Page 3

Daisy Blue Naturals moves downtown as part of shift in business strategy. Page 4

Mason City Clinic gauging interest from the community for other services. Page 8

Former restaurant owner wins competition, hopes to start food truck. Page 9

PAGE 2 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019

RECYCLE Continued from Front Page

pizza delivery boxes or cardboard takeout cartons, cannot be recycled, as they grow mold or deteriorate too much before they can be recycled. Items that once held food-grade items that can be rinsed out, such as milk jugs or plastic food containers, can be recycled. Plastic bags and styrofoam cannot be recycled at all. There is no number system to what can be recycled — any rinsed out, non-contaminated plastic containers or bottles, or aluminum, glass or paper/ cardboard products can be recycled.

“Recycling is good, so we try to make everything reusable when we can,” Behrends said.

Other misconceptions people have about recycling is what all goes into picking up curbside bins, the route manager said.

The residential Waste Management trucks drivers use are designed so that drivers have to get out of the truck as little as possible — for multiple safety reasons. A mechanical arm extends from the truck to pick up bins and dump their contents into the truck before replacing the bin.

By the numbers 1,300 Albert Lea homes serviced each day, five days a week, on Waste Management’s recycling routes

3 Feet apart recycling bins should be from all other objects — such as other bins, cars or mailboxes The arm can only reach 5 feet, so bins need to be curbside, and need to have 3 feet of space around them — from obstructions such as other bins, mailboxes and cars, among others. If everything can’t fit in the bin, it needs to either wait until the next pickup date or be dropped off at a recycling center or a drop-off site — which is free.

Drivers cannot safely get recycling from the curb and then 12 feet up in the air into the truck, said route driver Shawn Freeman. If bins are overfilled or have breakable items like glass

All recycling picked up by the Clarks Grove Waste Management facility is brought back to the plant before being compacted for transport to a facility in Blaine, where the materials are then sorted for resale to be recycled. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

spilling out, he and other Waste Management drivers often get blamed for any loose materials that fall out. Drivers getting out of the truck run the risk of being hit by surrounding traffic, or getting too close to heavy machinery

Jay Behrends is a residential route manager for the Clarks Grove Waste Management facility.

and equipment.

“If it’ll fit in the bin, it’ll fit in the truck,” Behrends said.

Other misunderstandings often stem from people forgetting a large recycling truck doesn’t operate the same as a typical vehicle.

It takes a lot more to stop

a truck when it’s cut off by another driver than it would for a car, and tight spaces such as alleyways or other narrow streets can provide some touchy situations for trucks to get through. There are times when weather prohibits routes from being

completed on time, delaying them a few hours or sometimes a day, but ice isn’t something to mix with large recycling trucks.

“You don’t want to get yourself or someone else injured over garbage,” Freeman said.

The Clarks Grove facility has four roll-off trucks, four front-end loading trucks and eight residential trucks that collect the recycling from the plant’s pick-up areas. Pictured is one of its residential recycling trucks, which has a mechanical arm that picks up recycling bins, before lifting them about 12 feet in the air to dump the contents into the back of the truck.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 3

The Pet Authority owner starts new retail consulting business By the numbers

By Colleen Harrison

colleen.harrison@albertleatribune.com

Just because a business is successful, doesn’t mean a business owner isn’t struggling.

Michelle Nelson, 42, grew up in Albert Lea, raised by parents who ran their own business — NAPA Auto Parts — for 25 years.

Nelson grew up knowing she wanted to have her own business as well.

“I have a lot of ties to this community and I love it,” she said.

In 2005 she started Ranch and Pet Supply — which would become The Pet Authority in 2016.

“It was more of a passion,” Nelson said. “Who doesn’t love to play with puppies all day?”

While her business was steadily growing, eight to nine years in Nelson felt herself struggling to find a balance between her work and her personal life. She said she was working all the time, and her life outside of work was suffering for it.

“Business was going well, but I was drowning as a business owner,” Nelson said. “I needed help.”

So, she considered her options, leading her to enroll in WhizBang! Retail Training.

WhizBang! Retail Training helps retailers of all sizes build up their businesses through products and services designed to fit the needs of brand new retailers as well as seasoned owners and multistore chains. One of those products is a retail mastery system that teaches the “11 essential skills required to be a successful store owner,” according to the WhizBang! website.

Nelson joined one of the master classes offered through the program, and gradually implemented things she had learned from the class over four or five years at her business. Over that span of time, Nelson said she gradually was able to have a life outside of work again.

“I took my business and totally changed it,” she said.

2005

Year Michelle Nelson started her own business, Ranch and Pet Supply

2016 Year Ranch and Pet Supply became The Pet Authority

30 Percent of her time Nelson spends working through her retail business each month, compared to the 70 percent she spends at The Pet Authority

Michelle Nelson, owner of The Pet Authority in Albert Lea, started her own retail consulting business last year. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

“Instead of my business running me, I learned how to run my business.”

Eventually, WhizBang! put together a program using 14 people who had successfully implemented its program before, Nelson being one of them. Through the program she became a certified retail consultant.

While Nelson said she has given advice and worked with other business owners through the years, she started her official retail consulting business, Nelson Retail Consulting, in August.

Through her business she is able to help others “run a business that doesn’t run them.” She does this through teaching others about marketing, hiring, programming, pricing and inventory, among other avenues.

Right now, Nelson said she works with different individual pet stores, and is teaming up with someone in the pet industry to work with pet supplies businesses across the U.S.

Nelson started her retail consulting business after undergoing retail training through WhizBang! after she herself struggled with work-life balance in the earlier years of owning her own business.

While her personal experience is in the pet industry, Nelson said her retail consulting business can

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help business owners in any “Retail is retail,” she said. market, and she enjoys seeing “It’s fun to see them not the same program that helped struggle and be successful her work well for others. right away.”

As she has progressed through the business world over the years, Nelson said she has realized her “Godgiven purpose isn’t to run her own business, but to help others.”

“It’s to help others to bring their dreams into reality,” she said. “Retail is not easy. It’s hard, and people don’t always understand how hard it is.”

As of now, Nelson said about 30 percent of her time spent on work each month is devoted to her retail consulting business, with the other 70 percent going toward The Pet Authority. She said the transition to juggling both businesses has gone well, largely due to her “amazing staff” at The Pet Authority who have been trained on the business plan Nelson has implemented through her WhizBang! training. That plan has allowed her to get to a place with her business where she can take a step back when needed.

“The most important investment you can make is in yourself as a business owner,” she said. “It’s also the toughest one to make, but once you do it, everything turns around.”

PAGE 4 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019

Daisy Blue Naturals CEO and chemist Jena Thompson said the move to downtown has increased customer interaction and allowed the business to explore different avenues of product manufacturing. SARAH KOCHER/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

KEEPING IT NATURAL

DAISY BLUE NATURALS MOVES DOWNTOWN AS PART OF SHIFT IN BUSINESS STRATEGY

By Sarah Kocher

sarah.kocher@albertleatribune.com

The first thing you’ll notice about Daisy Blue Naturals’ retail location is the smell.

It’s good.

Tucked into the Knutson building off Newton Avenue, Daisy Blue hits you with a scent wave of essential oils that mingle together, pleasantly indistinguishable to the untrained nose.

The trained nose is behind the helm, running an almost 18-year-old business from a new location since a move in November.

Jena Thompson, chemist and Daisy Blue Naturals CEO, said the move was a mutual decision between the business and the Albert Lea Business Development Center, which she said is intended as a business incubator. Moving out means another business can expand into that space.

But more importantly for Daisy Blue, moving into a retail space means reconnecting with what Thompson sees as the strength — and fun — of her business: being able to interact with customers.

“I really didn’t want to be in a warehouse anymore,” she said.

Though she loved being in direct sales, the change to a retail location came after a business model switch last February. She said she loves being downtown.

“I knew a couple years ago that I needed to change it,” Thompson said. “It was not going to be the sustainability for Daisy Blue that we wanted. We had a lot of great consultants, but quite honestly, we weren’t growing new ones. We were maintaining. And it was also, I think, our product line is going to do much better in a retail setting

Nikki Cromwell demonstrates making a Daisy Blue face cream at Daisy Blue Naturals. and I can be more that voice again, so it feels like I was able to kind of get back to what I started with.”

Additionally, at the warehouse there weren’t set hours for customers.

Thompson said it was harder to maintain that direct relationship between consumer and provider.

While Thompson said Daisy Blue’s strongest product outlet is still ecommerce, she estimates a 500 percent increase in customer walk-ins since the transition.

“This is more boutique,” she said. “It’s cute. It flows better for us. I think it’s a way better fit for the product line. And I love people, and now we have more people walking in, which is awesome.”

And with a retail location, customers who come

“This is more boutique. It’s cute.

It flows better for us. I think it’s a way better fit for the product line. And I love people, and now we have more people walking in, which is awesome.”

— Daisy Blue Naturals CEO Jena Thompson in while Nikki Cromwell, whose colloquial title at Daisy Blue Naturals is “maker of all things,” is whipping up a batch of product can see how things are made. Cromwell has worked for the company for over six months now.

Most of her time is spent making and labeling products and preparing them for shipping.

“I have always used Daisy Blue products, so it’s

Daisy Blue Naturals CEO and chemist Jena Thompson said she likes taking popular products that aren’t made with natural ingredients and challenging herself to make them naturally.

really cool to know how it’s made,” she said.

According to Thompson, the retail location also allows the Daisy Blue team to change its manufacturing process.

“We’re able to be more creative and to get different products out a lot quicker in this new market,” she said.

“In the past market, we were locked into a catalog. We were locked into, you know, making sure we had what

the consultants needed.”

With the change, she can run smaller batches, or offerings available only in the store, without having to worry about making sure every consultant has enough. Thompson also wants to use the space to get classes going.

Cromwell said customer reactions to the move have been positive.

“Every single time somebody comes in they say how excited they are that we’re downtown instead of back at the business incubator,” Cromwell said.

Thompson thanked the city and the Albert Lea Business Development Center for their support from the beginning of her company.

“They really do want growth in this town,” she said. “I really believe it.”

The Knutson building is also growing into a sort of personal care haven, Thompson said, as the building houses a hair salon and massage therapist as well.

She has always envisioned having Daisy Blue Naturals be part of a greater wellness center, she said; this is part of what her new location in Austin is intended for, too.

Thompson started Daisy Blue after studying chemistry, after which she worked as a safety and environmental manager with polyurethane. Afterward, she worked two years for a pharmaceutical company, processing horse urine.

“I always say it was an easy transition from horse pee to Daisy Blue,” Thompson joked. But really, she was pregnant with her son and knew she wanted natural products to use for him.

She knew she wanted to start showing people options for herbs and vitamins, but after looking into pharmacy, she discovered that wasn’t the way.

“We all are given a life path,” she said. “We have to just find out what that path and purpose is. And once you find your passion, what lights you up, you know you’re on the right path.

And when I started creating products, that’s what it was for me.”

She’s a creator, she said, so staying involved with product creation is important to her. She likes to look at products that are not natural and challenge herself to make them “better,” with natural ingredients.

“Our goal is to always stay hands-on with our product making,” she said.

Daisy Blue Naturals is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends by appointment.

The move to the Knutson building is one part of a shift from a consultant to retail model for Daisy Blue Naturals. Employee Nikki Cromwell said customers have reacted positively to the move from their warehouse location in the Albert Lea Business Development Center.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 5

Edwin and Helen Schecklman stand next to the model train setup in the back room of their store, Sidetrack Hobby, in Northbridge Mall. Edwin Schecklman said his goal is to have the setup reach the window at the front of the store. TYLER JULSON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

A HOBBY TURNED INTO A BUSINESS

By Tyler Julson

tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com

Sidetrack Hobby in Northbridge Mall opened in June 2017, selling various parts and kits for model train enthusiasts looking to start or build upon their existing setups.

Edwin Schecklman, the owner and operator of Sidetrack Hobby, has been in love with trains since he was a young boy, working on them with his father.

“It’s just something I’ve always done with my dad, so it really comes from there,” Schecklman said. “He built our first train right out back

when I was 6 or 7, and I’ve always had one ever since.

It’s just one of those things that’s in the blood.”

He said the best part about setting up model trains is all of the detail that can go into the scenes he creates.

Despite the Albert Lea shop opening in 2017, Schecklman has been in the hobby business since 2006 when he owned a shop in Iowa Falls, Iowa. His wife, Helen, was offered a promotion and forced them to pack up the shop and move to Albert Lea. Starting as just a small operation, Schecklman said

“It basically started with just a few bottles of paint and just kept rolling and rolling from there.”

— Sidetrack Hobby owner Edwin Schecklman

the business kept getting bigger and bigger, allowing him to expand.

“It basically started with just a few bottles of paint and just kept rolling and rolling from there,” he said.

“We sell $500 worth of merchandise, we order $600 of more inventory from the profits and that’s the way it’s been going.”

Sidetrack Hobby has

walls and shelves filled with different materials for walk-in customers to peruse through, but Schecklman said he does a majority of his business online.

“About 12 percent of our sales are local, the other 88 percent comes from online,” he said. “It would always be nice if we had more local, walk-in traffic, but our biggest challenge is

just trying to compete with everybody online. There are a lot of people that buy based on price only, and some that buy based on service. Service we can compete really well at, but pricing is always hard.”

Sidetrack Hobby has sold to different countries and different people all over the world, including singer Jennifer Lopez and professional golfer Payne Stewart.

Schecklman said the best part about owning the store is that he can use and build the models himself, so he can give customers different ideas on how they

can set their models up.

In the back of his store, Schecklman has a model train that spans the entire room. He said he works on it from time to time and when it’s done will be a replica of the train he drove next to on his trips to see his wife when they first started dating.

“I’m also lucky because I get to work with Nicole (his daughter) most of the time and Helen, when she can be here,” Schecklman said. “And the other thing is, it’s flexible. I can be here at 10 o’clock or I can be here whenever. It’s nice to kind of make my own hours.”

New businesses in Albert Lea in the last year

Charmaine Tinsley opened Couture Queen Boutique in Northbridge Mall in November.

COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

Eat’N Ice Cream Shoppe opened this summer across from Fountain Lake.

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PAGE 6 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019

A patient boards the SMART Transit service from Health Reach in Albert Lea. The route from Health Reach to the SMART Transit office in Austin was established before the addition of the stops at Mayo Clinic Health System locations in Albert Lea and Austin. SARAH KOCHER/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

Bus route between Austin, A.L. hospitals off to slow start, but organizers remain positive

By Sarah Kocher

sarah.kocher@albertleatribune.com

The bus was warm, but not from body heat as it chugged its empty Ford body out of the Mayo Clinic Health System drive-up loop in Albert Lea at 3:15 p.m. on a Monday in January.

SMART Transit began its inter-city service between Austin and Albert Lea Mayo Clinic Health System campuses Jan. 2 thanks in part to a Minnesota Department of Transportation grant to Cedar Valley Services. The shuttle runs weekdays, with Albert Lea departure times between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. depending on the day. The trip is $3 one-way.

As the shuttle continues to operate, Cedar Valley Services division director Garry Hart said he hopes to see 20 to 25 people use the bus per day for rides between Albert Lea and Austin.

As of January, numbers didn’t appear to reach those levels. Monday, Wednesday, Friday driver Juan Tapia estimated in mid-January he carried four people the week before, all from Albert Lea to Austin.

These four do not include the dialysis patients Tapia picks up from Health Reach in Albert Lea and drives to the SMART Transit office in Austin.

This stop, which occurs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, has been a longerterm arrangement. According to Austin resident Julie Corkill, these rides are free for dialysis patients thanks to funding through Hormel.

Corkill has been riding from Austin to Albert Lea

for dialysis three days a week for 1 1/2 years. She said in January she had not noticed more riders on the bus, which stops at the Mayo Clinic Health System main campus in Albert Lea before driving to Health Reach, since the extra stop was added earlier that month.

Before the color arrived — green, yellow, blue and purple carried on the backs of people bundled up against the cold — the bus was swimming in gray: gray seats, gray floors, metallic gray handrails running along the ceiling and gray road beneath. It had 18 traditional seats as well as space for wheelchairs in the back.

Corkill, in an eggplantcolored coat and yellow face mask, played solitaire on her phone while the man behind her, enveloped in a puffy yellow coat, watched a fishing video on his phone turned sideways. The other two Health Reach riders looked ahead as the white dotted lines on Interstate 90 rush forward toward them, only to slip under the bus and disappear into the rear distance.

For Corkill, the bus between Austin and Albert Lea means she doesn’t have to drive out of town. Since she is waiting for heart and kidney transplants, she’s not comfortable doing so.

“It works out really well for me to ride it,” Corkill said.

Hart said he expects the added service between Albert Lea and Austin Mayo campuses to primarily be of use to seniors, people without cars and those who don’t want

Following the transition of some services between Mayo Clinic Health System locations in Austin and Albert Lea, SMART Transit began offering rides in January between the two main campuses. A bus waits for riders in Albert Lea. to drive between the communities. However, looking ahead, the service is considering how to be helpful for Mayo Clinic employees by adding earlier and later work runs.

Additionally, SMART Transit is considering how to execute a pass for frequent riders on the intercity route. That decision won’t be made until ridership numbers show the service’s use for a handful of months, Hart said.

“That’s kind of our forte at SMART is that we’ll start something, look at it, evaluate it and maybe make some tweaks with it, so I think really we’d like

Dialysis patients disembark upon return to the SMART transit office in Austin. Rides to and from the dialysis center in Albert Lea are free for pateints through a grant from Hormel, rider Julie Corkill said.

“I’m really hopeful we can get some people on there and make it a viable option for people to use, not only for medical care but also for other needs that they may have.”

— Cedar Valley Services division director Garry Hart to have good ridership on that,” Hart said. “That’s how we’ll be able to get extra funding.”

Tapia said he expects it to take about three months before numbers will begin to be representative of true traffic on the bus. He

does expect ridership to increase.

“I believe that it will as the clinics catch on,” Tapia said.

Additionally, he saw the same possibility for the route Hart did: that riders may use it not to access

the hospitals, but simply to move between cities.

Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin and Albert Lea is on both Austin and Albert Lea main routes, so riders could use that location to change buses and access more of each city.

“I’m really hopeful we can get some people on there and make it a viable option for people to use, not only for medical care but also for other needs that they may have,” Hart said.

The route schedule for the SMART Transit hospital shuttle between Albert Lea and Austin is available at smartbusmn.org.

Driver Juan Tapia returns a schedule to the container on his dash and prepares to head to Mayo Clinic Heatlh System in Austin for the 4:15 p.m. pickup.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 7

Arnold’s Construction owner Robert Arnold works in his building in January. Arnold’s Construction is one of the businesses that has received help from the Glenville Economic Development Authority. SAM WILMES/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

A TOOL TO HELP GLENVILLE BUSINESSES GROW

By Sam Wilmes

sam.wilmes@albertleatribune.com

GLENVILLE — Arnold’s Construction owner Robert Arnold was building a 2,800-square-foot building inside on a cold January day in Glenville, the construction sounds echoing through the facility as country music played in the background.

He credits the Glenville Economic Development Authority for making it possible by providing a

$2,000 grant to the business for the lot the building will sit on.

“They helped with the land,” Arnold said. “They helped with some money.

We like Glenville a lot. I would recommend anybody coming to Glenville to start a business — very business friendly. They help any possible way they can.”

The EDA, funded as a line item in the city budget, developed in 2002 to make it easier for the city to receive land donations,

acquire properties and transfer ownership of the properties.

“There are some development things that the EDA can do, that is easier to do through an EDA than city government,” Glenville Mayor Wes Webb said.

“Between the city and the EDA, when we end up with excess property — such as a lot from a property that has been demolished — we have sold/transferred those properties to a business needing space.”

BY THE NUMBERS

2,800

2002

$12,000

Square feet in a building being constructed for Arnold’s Construction in Glenville

Year the Glenville Economic Development Authority started

Money the EDA has given in storefront grants over the last six months.

The EDA has helped in projects, including selling property for parking and reserved space for sporting goods store Cold Snap, a business that manufactures ice auger protective shields and markets other items geared toward the fishing industry, and a lot in association with Arnold’s Construction’s in-progress building.

Help has also been provided for Glenville-based Black Iron Manufacturing.

Webb estimated the EDA has given about $12,000 in six storefront grants within

the last six months.

The three-member EDA board — Gary Gulbrandson, Sandra Dahlum and Gene Engel — meets as needed.

Webb noted state funding is relatively hard to secure for such projects, adding it is typically used in larger development projects.

“If we have the opportunities, we are going to position ourselves, through the EDA and the city, to make that help possible on a local basis,” he said.

The city of Glenville reaches out to potential businesses to offer the program.

Webb noted though the EDA is not frequently used, it still serves a purpose.

“It so much wasn’t a citizen thing, just because of looking forward on things that might be needed,” he said. “It’s better to have one in place for when opportunities come up to where an EDA is needed.

It’s better to have one in place than to scramble and figure out how to handle something if the opportunity arises.

“It’s another tool from the city.”

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PAGE 8 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019

Mason City Clinic opens urology clinic in A.L.

By Sam Wilmes

By the numbers 4

sam.wilmes@albertleatribune.com

After Mayo Clinic Health System’s urologist who covered Albert Lea retired, residents were left with no one to provide urology services within the city.

Thanks to the work of four Mason City urologists who opened a urology clinic in October, that is no longer the case.

The clinic opens at 1 p.m.

Wednesdays at 1608 W. Fountain St. and is staffed by urologists Kevin Rier, Timothy Mulholland, Christopher Adams and Steven Thoma, who all work at Mason City Clinic.

They operate on a rotating basis and rent space from Tubbs Chiropractic.

“It’s been good,” Adams said. “It’s been a little slow.

I think one of the reasons for that … I’m not sure what type of referrals we are getting from the Mayo

Urologists who staff the clinic in Albert Lea

1 Days a week the urology clinic is open

Urologist Christopher Adams usually sees patients on a once-a-month basis in Albert Lea. SAM WILMES/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

Clinic system … it’s been this point.” to get privileges within a lot of self-referrals at The clinic is working the Mayo system so it can conduct operations at the Albert Lea hospital at 404 W. Fountain St. As of now, urologists conduct initial consultations, write prescriptions and order CT Offices scans or labwork. Any procedures done through the Apartment buildings clinic need to take place in New & existing commercial const.

Mason City.

The clinic began in Albert Farm & industrial equipment Lea less than 1 1/2 years

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after Mayo Clinic Health System announced it would transition most inpatient services from Albert Lea to Austin. Urology services were not part of the transition, and such services have been in Austin since the previous urologist who covered Albert Lea and Austin retired.

Adams estimates he sees five to seven patients per clinic visit, adding 60 patients could be seen per month at full capacity.

“We’re only a quarter full,” he said.

The Albert Lea clinic is another step in the Mason City hospital’s outreach to communities such as Iowa Falls, Waverly and Cresco, something Adams said has

taken place over the last 30 to 40 years.

“We’ve been doing outreach for a long time,” he said. “We really feel southern Minnesota is really sort of our territory, our sort of demographic, our people.”

Adams expects the flow of business to dictate whether the clinic expands in Albert Lea. An Indianapolis native, Adams attended the University of Denver, medical school at Harvard University and residency at University of Iowa.

“Urology is both medicine and surgery, so you get the best of both worlds,” Adams said. “A lot of different surgeries — we do robotic surgery, we use laser surgery for kidney stones, we do open surgery, a lot of different pathologies, and we see a lot of different age groups.”

He said his favorite part of the profession is positively impacting someone’s life.

“We just really appreciate being in the community,” Adams said. “(We) want to serve the community and we appreciate the business. … Tell a friend we’re here once a week — can be here more if the demand is here.”

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Four urologists staff the clinic at 1708 W. Fountain St. on a rotating basis on Wednesdays.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | BUSINESS & HEALTH | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 9

CARING

Is What We Do Best Dori Etheridge won the new business division of ALEDA’s Tiger Cage competition with her idea for a food truck called The Peppered Cow. The Peppered Cow will serve a variety of food, including smash burgers, hand-cut crispy french fries and globally inspired sandwiches, along with specials, salads, soups and desserts. TYLER JULSON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

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By Tyler Julson

tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com

Ever since closing her restaurant, Ayanah’s, in 2004, Dori Etheridge had longed to get back into the business that made her happy. When ALEAP announced its Tiger Cage competition, Etheridge saw her opportunity to make the comeback.

“I’ve done a lot of things since I sold my restaurant,” Etheridge said. “I’ve sold cars, I worked at the Tribune, but my heart’s been crying for something hospitality, especially a restaurant. I just really miss it.”

When she heard about the Tiger Cage competition, she knew she wanted to start a food truck. After having a little bit of trouble coming up with a unique name, Etheridge was talking with some of her friends that told her the trendy thing to do was to pair an animal name and an adjective to form the name.

One day, when she was cooking, Etheridge noticed all of the different peppercorns she was using and The Peppered Cow was born.

Etheridge said she has

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This Italian beef sandwich and handcut fries plate is one of the items expected to be sold at The Peppered Cow food truck. PROVIDED loved to cook and bake from a young age, taking a lot of inspiration from her mother.

“My mom inspired my food passion,” Etheridge said. “She was the most ferocious, passionate cook that I’ve ever known.

When she made a dinner, it knocked your socks off.

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A Cuban sandwich will be on the menu for The Peppered Cow. PROVIDED

TRUCK Continued from Page 9

“My mom’s been my inspiration ever since I was a little kid. To see that kind of passion out of someone really inspired me.”

When Etheridge was 18, her mom was killed in a car crash, putting her in a position to learn all of her cooking techniques on her own.

Etheridge said she would check out five cookbooks at a time from the library and watch every cooking show on PBS attempting to absorb as much information as she could.

Etheridge learned a lot from many different food cultures and plans to use those skills when The Peppered Cow opens for business. On top of some globally inspired sandwiches, Etheridge plans to have smash burgers, hand-cut crispy french fries, daily specials, soups, salads and desserts.

She plans to have her truck customized and ready by the middle of May and said the hardest part about it so far has been the funding. However, she said the grant from the Tiger Cage competition has been huge in helping her move forward.

Etheridge said it’s all going to be worth it when she opens for the first time, saying the thing she’s looking forward to the most is hopefully long lines of customers.

“When Eat’n Ice Cream opened last summer, there were lines,” she said. “That clearly filled a niche that was missing for people.

I’m excited to fill a niche and fine tune exactly what that niche is. I’m excited for that first order. When I’m finally parked and announce it on Facebook and Twitter, that first customer is going to be a huge deal, and I’m really excited about that.”

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