Small kitchen space gets upscale makeover
Storm doors make a dramatic statement
Patients utilize online portal to gain medical information
A GUIDE FOR LIVING IN SIOUXLAND
TWINS
WHICH ONE WAS MAYOR OF SIOUX CITY?
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
COMPUTERS TAKE ON ENTERTAINMENT, HEALTH CARE
FEBRUARY 2011
SIOUXLAND LIFE IS ON THE WEB! VISIT WWW.SIOUXCITYJOURNAL.COM/SIOUXLANDLIFE
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SIOUXLAND LIFE
CONTENTS February
2011
7 STAYING WARM
Four employees who fight the winter elements for their jobs, including Sioux City utilities department employee Jason Williams, above, share their secrets to staying warm.
24 ON THE COVER Do you know the Berenstein twins well enough to know who enjoys reading about E-Commerce Law and Business, (Greg) left, or Close Corporations LLS Law and Practice (Craig)? Find out more about these twins and more in our twins feature starting on page 18. Photograph by Jerry Mennenga
FEATURES 4 Cozy kitchen remodel 7 How to stay warm in winter 11 Movie technology 14 Storm doors make a statement 16 Products: A La Mode 18 Twins: Education 20 Twins: Brothers share Twins passion 24 20 Questions with the Berenstein twins 28 Twins: Twin towers
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MODERN MOVIES A wireless device like the Apple iPad can be used to stream movies to your home television.
Twin Bings Twins: Supertwinologist Twins: Health care Twins: Fraternal twins Health: Online medicine Health: Real-time medical charting Ask a doc Out & About Parting shot: What I’ve learned
PUBLISHER Steve Griffith EDITOR Bruce Miller EDITORIAL Joanne Fox, Tim Gallagher, Earl Horlyk, Nick Hytrek, John Quinlan PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Hynds, Jim Lee, Jerry Mennenga PRESENTATION EDITOR Amy Hynds ADVERTISING SALES Nancy Gevik ADVERTISING DESIGN Stacy Pajl, Jill Bisenius
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©2011 The Sioux City Journal. Siouxland Life is published monthly by The Sioux City Journal. For advertising information, please call (712) 224-6275. For editorial information, please call (712) 293-4218.
IN-ROOM CHARTING Cindy Davis, house supervisor at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, demonstrates the hospital’s new in-room computers used to fill out charts and read orders at bedside.
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HOMES Kitchen
remodel
Scandanavian tiles used as accents reflect Ambroson’s Nordic heritage.
COZY KITCHEN REMODELED Text by Joanne Fox | Photographs by Tim Hynds
WATCH TELEVISION OR PAGE through a magazine and large kitchens – where families can gather and two or more cooks can plan a culinary spectacular – are all the rage and decorated to the nines. But how do you remodel when there’s just enough room for one person to turn around in the kitchen? That’s what Gene Ambroson faced when he decided it was time to update his kitchen. “The dishwasher was purchased in 1978,” he said. “It was past time.” For Ambroson the kitchen is the place where his day starts with coffee. He may sneak home over the lunch hour for a bite. And at the end of the day, it’s where Ambroson creates supper.
Gene Ambroson recently had the kitchen of his Morningside neighborhood condo remodeled to update the small space.
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The countertops were replaced with a nonporous solid surface material that can withstand the heat of cookware and resist stains. Ambroson choose to keep tools he uses frequently close at hand in easy-to-reach containers sitting on the counter.
As director of alumni activities at Morningside College and the adviser for the Acacia fraternity, Ambroson also likes to entertain on occasion. So between preparing, cooking or eating, that kitchen has to work for him. What Ambroson discovered was a small kitchen space presents an interesting challenge. “There was no option to enlarge the area, due to load-bearing walls,” he explained. “Even with that, because I live in a condominium, I was also restricted to what I could do and what I couldn’t do.” Working with contractor Brad Beach, Ambroson became creative in having the space reflect his lifestyle. “I knew the kitchen worked for me, but my options were limited in remodeling the space,” he said. The design of any kitchen has to take into account storage, food preparation, cooking and eating. Ambroson’s kitchen had all of those elements in place; they were just dated. “Everything was already organized according to my cooking habits,” he said. “It was just a matter of giving everything a fresh, modern look.” Instead of replacing the original cabinets, a substantial investment, Ambroson had the cabinets refaced with a rich 6
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“I knew the kitchen worked for me, but my options were limited in remodeling the space.” cedar look and installed new hardware. The old countertops were replaced with a high-end foam core board. The nonporous quality of this type of solid surface makes it resistant to mold and mildew, and it can be fabricated into any shape or size in any color or design. Since workspace around the stove and sink is at a premium, the worktop needed to stand the heat of hot cookware, plates and utensils, as well as the stain of spices and foods and resist sharp objects. Again, because space was limited, Ambroson chose not to add open shelves, wall organizers or racks to open the workspace. Instead, he went with keeping whisks, ladles and other utensils close at hand in a spinning container. Other items such as pots, pans, cookware and spices already had easy-to-get-at places.
SIOUXLAND LIFE
Ambroson purchased new stainless steel appliances to create a more modern presentation. The exception was the kitchen sink, which remained intact, but was spruced up with a new faucet. But a kitchen should not only be functional, it should look good. Practical should not equal boring, Ambroson said. “The walls were wallpapered and just outdated,” he said. “I shared with the office staff at Morningside about the remodel and got a lot of input on how to decorate it.” The soffits above the cabinets were painted a rich red. Off came the wallpaper and up went a stone-colored backsplash. Proud of his Norwegian heritage from his parents and both sets grandparents, Ambroson wanted to reflect that in his kitchen accoutrements. Decor on the walls and countertops reflect the Nordic area with bright orange and red colors. As accents, Ambroson had art tiles that depict Scandinavian scenes. “I found and ordered them online,” he said of the heartwarming moments of hearth and home. “I just wanted something unique.”
SEASONS Staying
warm
How to
STAY WARM in winter
Text by Earl Horlyk Photographs by Tim Hynds and Jerry Mennenga
AS A SIOUX CITY Fire Rescue firefighter with more than 15 years experience, Aaron Lisle knows a thing or two about keeping warm in the winter, even after spending hours at a fire scene. “Fighting fires in wintertime is a heckuva lot easier than doing it in summertime,” Lisle explained. “In winter, we dress in layers so it’s easy to remove clothing when we get hot. In the summer, we don’t dress in layers, so nothing can come off.” While it’s Lisle’s job to be out in the elements, marathon runner Patty Considine prefers the bracing cold as a way to stay in shape. “Some people use winter as an excuse not to run,” Considine, who has been running marathons for more than a decade, explained. “I say enjoy the Midwest’s four seasons and embrace the cold.” This is also the advice of others, whose livelihoods depend on being outside, no matter the season. That’s why we asked Lisle, Considine, Sioux City police officer Mike Sitzman and Jason Williams, a utility worker with the City of Sioux City’s Field Services Office, how they keep warm even in the coldest of winter weather.
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Sioux City utilities department employee Jason Williams shows off the layers he wears to keep warm while working outside.
Patty Considine, a personal trainer and marathon runner, talks about the outer wear she uses to keep warm while running outside. She is shown at her Sioux City business, Iron Girl Fitness.
Jason Williams
Patty Considine
OCCUPATION: City of Sioux City utility worker with three years of experience WHAT DOES HE DO OUTSIDE: As one of the city’s “leak detectors,” Williams often goes underground into icy cold water, to check on main breaks. WHAT DOES HE WEAR: Layers and lots of ’em, starting with a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, sweatshirt, coveralls, a hoodie, an insulated coat, a hat and several pairs of gloves. BEST ADVICE HE CAN GIVE: “When working outdoors, rely on the buddy system to make things go faster,” Williams said. “Also, be sure to bring multiples of gloves, hats and coats, if possible. After all, if you’re soaking wet, the moisture will freeze up again.”
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OCCUPATION: Owner of Sioux City’s IronGirl Fitness and an avid marathoner WHAT DOES SHE DO OUTSIDE: Everything and anything physical. That includes running, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. WHAT DOES SHE WEAR: From bottom to top, Considine wears running shoes (with snow spikes that fit over the shoes, allowing for traction in the ice and snow), form-fitting running tights (made of a moisture-wicking material), winter coat or vest (also made of moisture-wicking material) to protect her core, gloves (with reflective tape) and a hat or an optional face mask (since 30 percent of a person’s heat escapes from his head). “If the wind chill is a factor, I also wear Vaseline on my face to protect it from the elements,” Considine said. “I don’t know if everyone will agree with that as a skin-care tip, though.” BEST ADVICE SHE CAN GIVE: “Remember that once your heart beat is up, you’ll be about 20 degrees warmer than you are when you started,” Considine said. “So it’s better to start a little bit cold because you’ll be warming before you know it.” And since you’re gonna sweat, Considine said, wicking is key. “Cottons or any fabric that soaks while you sweat is definitely not a good thing,” she said. “Moisture-wicking clothing is lightweight enough to allow you to move and it keeps you dry, even when it’s wet outside.”
Sioux City Fire Rescue fire fighters Paul Johnson, left, and Aaron Lisle show what their normally wear beneath their turnout gear or firefighting gear to stay warm in the winter. Johnson uses Under Armour leggings and normally a similar shirt, while Lisle wears a pullover fleece jacket and normal pants.
Sioux City Police officer Mike Sitzman keeps warm working the winter months by dressing in layers, with an Under Armour undershirt and a zip in fleece layer attached to his jacket.
Aaron Lisle
Mike Sitzman
OCCUPATION: Driver, Sioux City Fire Rescue Department WHAT DOES HE WEAR: In addition to the regulation turn-out uniform of coat, boots, hat and gloves, Lisle wears layers of clothing that may include a stocking cap, sweatshirt or pullover sweater. Outside of regulation attire, Lisle said a firefighter uses common sense in choosing what to wear. “There are guys who want to appear all macho, saying the cold or the heat won’t affect them,” he said, shaking his head. “In reality, they’re putting everyone at risk.” Lisle said he’s naturally warm-blooded and doesn’t mind the winter. “Since I’m the guy who stays on the truck,” he noted, “I’m actually in the cold more than the guys fighting the fire.” BEST ADVICE HE CAN GIVE: Layers, layers and even more layers. “If you get hot in the winter, you can always take off a layer of clothing,” Lisle said. “That’s a luxury a firefighter doesn’t have in the summer.”
OCCUPATION: Police officer with seven months of experience with the Sioux City Police Department. Previously, he spent five years with the Spirit Lake Police Department. WHAT DOES HE DO OUTSIDE: Everything you’d imagine a police officer would do, including being on the scene for accidents and injuries – a regular occurrence during the winter. WHAT DOES HE WEAR: Long-sleeved T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, vest, coat, hat and two different types of gloves. “I wear insulated gloves for cold weather,” Sitzman explained. “But I also bring along a lighter pair of gloves that allow for easier movement.” BEST ADVICE HE CAN GIVE: “Expect the unexpected,” Sitzman said. “When I start my shift, I have no idea what the day will bring. I can be indoors or I could outside, in the snow and the wind chill, at an accident scene. I have to be prepared for anything.”
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HOME Movie
technology
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MOVIES BEGAT TELEVISION. TELEVISION begat videotapes. Videotapes begat DVDs and Blu-rays, which begat computers, which begat the World Wide Web, which begat cell phones and video streaming, which begat Netflix and its cousins, which was pretty much the begatting of the end for the traditional video rental business. Consumers just don’t watch movies or even TV shows like they used to. They watch them on big-screen TVs and notso-big-screen cell phones, on iPads and all kinds of other electronic devices. In a sense, it’s back to the future for most of us. “The next big thing in the future? I could say in the next five years, maybe even sooner than that, is where we won’t even have discs any more. Everything will just be either streaming or you can just download because everybody’s Internet speeds will just gradually get faster and faster and faster. And that’s where this whole digital content is going to end up – going that way.” So says Matt McManigal, the director of counter intelligence at Sioux City’s Best Buy, otherwise known as the Geek Squad supervisor. Nothing, in fact, surpises McManigal when it comes to technology. “The way I look at it, it’s only a matter of time before something comes out,” he said. “Look at the iPad, for example. Everyone was kind of wondering, would Apple ever create a device like this? When they came out with the iPhone, everybody’s like, ah man, how great it would be if they came out with an iPod that was just like the iPhone. And they did. And then they came out with the iPhone Touch. And then they’re like, well, gosh, that screen is a 3-and-a-half-inch screen, and it’s great and all, but maybe I’d love to have something better. Would Apple ever make something like that? And then, of course, they did.” As he explains, it, the all-wise and omnipotent Geek Squad founder once said that everyone would eventually have a big-screen TV at home, then a cell phone, which is going to be allow you to do a lot more than just talk on the phone. Then he saw even more portable devices coming, like the Android Tablet and the iPad and your computer and TV combined in some way. And so it happened. “We’re getting to that point in life where we’re expecting to see certain things and then you go back and look at a certain science-fiction movie,” he
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Best Buy Geek Squad supervisor Matt McManigal shows how a wireless device like the Apple iPad can be used to stream movies to your home TV set up.
said. “And the one I think of is ‘Back to the Future Part II,’ where Marty (McFly) goes into the future and he sees himself in his house, and all this different technology that was in that movie, a lot of that stuff that we are already able to do today. Like when he gets a fax sent from his boss and it seems to come out in like five or six different places in the house. That kind of shows the way that a person is able to get any kind of technology and any kind of information through so
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Get the router
Marrying your computer to your TV is as simple as a wireless router, the one device that makes all of it possible, Best Buy’s Matt McManigal said. It can connect all of your electronic devices together, not just the TV and computer. Cabled connection, be gone. A wireless router comes with Internet connection sharing, networking and firewall features. “Think of a wireless router as like your own, independent broadcast tower, in a way,” he said. “It’s just the point at where your Internet comes through for your modem, and you just channel it through this wireless router. And within your house, it just makes the signal that other devices can pick up.”
many devices in the home. And that’s what we’re getting to.” Can hoverboards be far behind? BACK TO THE PRESENT McManigal says DVDs have pretty much evolved into Blu-ray, and the “next big thing” is the digital copy, which already comes with a lot of the movies you buy these days. “So anybody that’s got a computer, has got an iPod Touch. Even just an iPad, they an put that movie on
You should first take a look at your provider to see what you are currently paying for, he said. “A case in point, for example, is my house where there are four roommates altogether. We have four Playstation 3s. Everybody has a computer. One of my roommates even has a desktop and laptop. You’re talking about nine kinds of devices,” he said. “And through our provider, we’re toward the top of what they sell for just the speed capability because we want to make sure that everybody has the capability of being able to do everything. If you have a slower speed, you’re not going to quite see the performance. It may stop and it may buffer to catch up.”
Always Tasty and Aged... that device, as well,” he noted. And today, more movie rentals and purchases are coming through the Internet, one of the more popular methods being Netflix streaming unlimited movies and TV shows over the Internet to your computer and/or TV for a monthly fee, he said. Netflix used to send movies via snail mail to its subscribers (and still does), but with super-fast computers, more often these days the movies are streamed. Netflix can also be streamed through many DVD players and just about every game console system, such as Xbox 360, the Wii and PlayStation 3. Best Buy, he noted, has a similar company called Cinema Now, which sends new releases to its customers, kind of like the digital copy that comes with many Blu-ray movies these days. He also noted the proliferation of Redboxes that rent DVDs and video games in vending machines throughout the country ... and the fact that even Blockbuster is pushing a videostreaming service. “Just how people are getting their movies nowadays, it’s pretty crazy,” McManigal said. “I mean, you can just about get your information anywhere.” Some phones like the Droid X from Motorola, for example, have an app for Blockbuster that will allow you to stream a movie through it. The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch all have Netflix apps, as well. “So if you’re in a Wi-Fi area, any movie that they have available for streaming, you can watch it,” he said. The tiny screens on some devices, which baffle some folks who worship their big-screen TVs, are great for travelers, McManigal said. “You don’t have to lug around a computer any more and put a disc in there,” he said. “Somebody who’s flying maybe across country, well you’ve got enough time where, hey, you’ve got this little device. I can go through and watch a movie and hook up head phones to it and I’m good to go. A lot of these will even have an external speaker as well.” He recalls visiting his sister recently and checking out some YouTube videos over his cell phone by connecting to her Wi-Fi. “So the possibilities out there are pretty amazing. It can seem a little overwhelming for some people,” he noted.
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HOME Storm
e
Doors
Stylish
STORM DOORS make an elegant statement Text by Earl Horlyk Photograph by Tim Hynds
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Scott Gerkin, vice president of sales at Gerkin Windows and Doors, talks about available storm door options at the South Sioux City business.
Elegance
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EVER WANTED TO GIVE your home an instant, inexpensive makeover? The answer can be as close as your front door. “Nothing says ‘welcome home’ quite like a beautiful entry,” said Scott Gerkin, vice president of sales at Gerkins Windows & Doors. Gerkin said a new, customized storm door can add a bit of panache while not pinching you in the pocket. “For anywhere between $300 to $600 a homeowner can change the entire look of his home with a quality storm door,” he explained, while walking through Gerkin’s expansive South Sioux City sales floor. Gerkin’s Classic Series of storm doors are just that: doors stylistically similar to the ones the company has been making for much of its 78-year history. The biggest innovation in Gerkin’s line of storm doors is that some models offer either a mid-view or a full-view (all-glass) option. “Many people spend money on expensive entry doors, only to have them obscured by their storm door,” Gerkin said. “A full-view storm door allows a person to actually see the entry doors.” Then again, nobody says a storm door can’t be as distinctive and swanky as an entry door. That’s why Gerkin suggests personalizing storm doors with a splash of color and high-end hardware. “Your home isn’t a cookie-cutter house,” he said. “So why should your screen door be?” Gerkin’s Uniquely Yours series of doors offers homeowners many options in door models, colors, hardware and decorative molding. Also, many storm doors now come with either head or bottom vents, which reduce the build-up of heat caused by the blazing sun. One of the headaches usually associated with storm doors is replacing the glass with the screen once the weather warms up. According to Gerkin, the new generation of screen doors comes with a retractable screen that is hidden away in the head of the door when ventilation isn’t needed, giving the homeowner a clear view. And if ventilation is needed, well, just pull down the retractable screen. “People sometimes forget what a statement a beautiful and durable storm door can make,” Gerkin said. “In my mind, it makes for a wonderful finishing touch for any house.”
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Your Kitchen Spice things up with a state-of-theart kitchen you’ll enjoy day after day, year after year. It’s one investment that delivers guaranteed returns.
Designer Jamie Miller will work closely with you to create the kitchen or bath that works for you!
715 East Ninth St. South Sioux City, NE 68776
Jamie Miller, AKBD Designer Phone 402-494-5411 Fax 402-494-2737 SIOUXLAND LIFE
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PRODUCTS A
La Mode
GOOD THINGS COME IN
PAIRS
LET’S HAVE A SLEEPOVER! Let the little princess express her devotion to her best friend with these BFF treats: Sleepover sequin duffle bag, $12.50; magnetic photo frame, $13.99; magnetic letters, $1 each; magnetic best friends figurines, $4.50; best friends necklace, $5.99; conversation tins from Always a Girl’s Girl, $12.50; Glam Girls slippers, $10.99.
A LA MODE, a unique boutique, is located at 4301 Sergeant Road, Suite 204. The shop has unique gifts for your best friend, mom or little girl. In addition to gifts, A La Mode carries a large selection of women’s clothing and accessories.
BIG GIRLS WANNA HAVE FUN Why drink wine in a glass with no sass? Painted wine glass, $26.99; wine bottle feather Floozie. $16.99; wine bottle carrier, $13.99, zebra sunglasses and case, $9.99 each; zebra print flask, $19.99; Diva wine glass Floozie, $11.50. Photographs by Amy Hynds
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GRAB A PAIR What girl doesn’t adore shoes? Among the selection of slippers are: Lolita melamine Love My Party plates, set of 4 for $19.99; beverage napkins, $4.99; Girl’s Night Out cheesecake bars mix, $6.99; Pink shoe accessory holder, $19.99; glass nail file set, $19.99; glitter nail file, $1.99; magnetic shoe paper clip holder, $11.99; Smucci scented lip gloss, $9.99; and initial luggage tag by Ganz, $6.99.
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712-258-3040 200 S. Court St. Sioux City, IA SIOUXLAND LIFE
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w TOGETHER Keep them
What is it like to have twins, be a twin or teach a twin? We talk-
ed with multiples throughout Siouxland and learned there are some unique markers. Even better? Siouxland’s No. 1 candy bar bears the twin name. This month we look at all things twin, including twins who love the Minnesota Twins, twin lawyers, twin athletes and twin experts. Double the fun? And double the information.
j
Text by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Tim Hynds
JULIE AND BRAD KROMMENHOEK have gone back and forth on whether to keep their twin sons, Hudson and Hunter, in the same class section in school. When the boys started kindergarten, Julie, a third-grade teacher at Leeds Elementary School, said they were kept together because she’d read research that showed twins did better if kept in the same classroom. “We had strong feelings that definitely in kindergarten they were going to be together, and then we’d feel it out from there,” Julie Krommenhoek said. After the family moved prior to first grade, the boys were kept together so they’d have at least one familiar face in the room when they started in their new school. Julie and Brad decided to have the boys separated for second
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Teacher Rochelle Greigg hands out sheets of paper to twins Liam, left, and Colin Greenwell as they work on a holiday project in their secondgrade class at Clark Elementary School in Sioux City. Liam and Colin have been in the same class section since they were in kindergarten.
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R or SEPARATE them? grade because the teachers in that grade did a lot of activities together. Hudson and Hunter were back together in third grade. Julie thought they would be together again in fourth. “I was fine with them being together, but they wanted to be separated,” she said of her 10-year-olds, who attend Leeds Elementary. Like all parents who send their kids to Sioux City’s public schools, the Krommenhoeks’ decision on whether to separate their twins in school was left up to them. The district has no formal policy on twin placement. “Parents know their kids best,” said Amy Denney, principal at Clark and Hunt elementary schools. Denney said she sees benefits for both arrangements. “Sometimes twins in the same class, they challenge each other,” she said. “It’s helpful for parents in those situations. (Twins) have the same information, same assignments.” Other parents will tell school officials that their twins spend enough time together at home, so they can be apart at school, Denney said. Pat Nauroth, assistant superintendent of South Sioux City Public Schools, said his district’s general practice is to separate twins. “Part of the rationale is it allows both siblings the opportunity to grow and develop individually. Unless there’s a real need, we ask for them to be placed in separate classrooms,” Nauroth said. “We try to help parents see that kids are individuals, and sometimes the best thing for individuals is not to be compared to one another.” Denney said it’s sometimes best to separate twins because of their personalities. “They may antagonize each other to the point of distraction. Generally, that’s not the case,” she said. That’s never been a problem with Colin and Liam Greenwell, twin sons of Gyna and Dan Greenwell. The 8-year-old
second-graders at Clark Elementary School have been in the same section since they were in kindergarten. Gyna Greenwell said the boys’ preschool teacher told her they would get along well in the same classroom. “My guys are fairly independent,” Greenwell said. “They don’t seem to need each other.” That doesn’t mean they’ll always be kept together. “Each year it’s been a conscious decision at registration to keep them together,” Greenwell said. “I’m taking it year by year.” Krommenhoek said there are pros
and cons to each alternative. When her boys are apart, there are two sets of assignments and notes from teachers. One twin might get a little upset if his brother’s section does a fun activity that the other section doesn’t do. But it’s also nice to see the boys make a wider circle of friends when they’re not together. Krommenhoek said her boys have done well in school together and apart. “Both ways have gone better than we thought,” she said. “I appreciate the fact that it’s left up to the parents.”
Twins Hunter, left, and Hudson Krommenhoek are shown with their mother, teacher Julie Krommenhoek at Leeds Elementary School in Sioux City. The twins are in separate sections of fourth grade at the school.
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t
TWINS show Minnesota Twins PASSION
Text by Tim Gallagher | Photographs by Jerry Mennenga
THE NEW YEAR BEGAN with a bang for twins Brian and Brent Jensen. Or a moral victory, at least. Their hero, former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, earned entry into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The votes came out Jan. 5. What’s that mean to a couple of Certified Public Accountants from Lawton? Plenty. For years these twins campaigned for Blyleven’s selection. They put their number-crunching prowess to work in creating a spreadsheet that showed how statistics earned by the longtime Minnesota Twins pitcher and broadcaster
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compared favorably to other hurlers previously enshrined. Blyleven won 287 games. He struck out 3,701 hitters. He amassed 60 shutouts. The Jensens downplay their role in making Blyleven’s case to members of the Baseball Writers of America. To them, the honor has everything to do with Bert and little to do with Brent or Brian. Still, the statistical analysis the Jensens created was published by newspapers in Philadelphia and Dallas, maybe more. A website serving either ESPN or CNN/SI printed their findings. Writer/
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broadcaster Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, a Hall of Fame voter himself, called Brent to let them know he’d done a great job on the analysis. Kurkjian, too, tried to make the case for the Twins ace. Blyleven’s call to the Hall is but one illustration of the bond these 49-year-olds share. The identical twins, sons of Virgil and Jean Jensen, now of Kingsley, Iowa, grew up near Correctionville, Iowa, and attended Eastwood High School. They played on Eastwood’s 1978 state title football team. They also played basketball, golf and baseball for the Raiders. Brent, a right-hander who is older by
MEMORABILIA MULTIPLIED Twin brothers Brent, left, and Brian Jensen have one thing in common besides their looks; they are both Minnesota Twins fans and have added to their collection over the years. Brent is wearing a Bob Randall jersey while Brian wears a Roger Erickson jersey. They both are holding a Roy Smalley bat. Left The Jensen brothers have a signed Bert Blyleven bobble head as well as a signed baseball by Blyleven and by Harmon Killebrew. They also have a John Moses batter’s hat. Below left Each acquired a Metropolitan Stadium seat after demolition began at the older venue. Below center A bat from Roy Smalley, the batting practice jersey of Lenny Webster and a signed baseball from Larry Hisel and Rod Carew. Below right Gravel from the Metropolitan Stadium warning track as well as a Bob Randall jersey are part of the Jensen collection.
one minute, played third base and shortstop in baseball. Brian, a lefty, pitched and played first base. “We are mirror-image twins,” Brian said. “Identical,” Brent confirmed. Their lives together didn’t stop with high school graduation. They headed east to the University of Iowa, where they shared a dorm room as freshmen and sophomores. They moved into a six-man house for their junior and senior years. In the summers? They coached together, directing the Little League baseball program in Correctionville. “Mom dressed us alike until we were old enough to say, ‘No,’” Brent joked. Twins come from their mother’s side of the family, the Grells. Great uncles were twins.
And while most of their classmates and teachers knew them apart, both Brian and Brent answered to the other’s name. They weren’t the only twins in their graduating class of 45 or so. Kelly Goodburn and his sister, Kerry, were twins. Following their days at Iowa, the Jensens became CPAs. Brent worked for a firm in Sheldon, Iowa, for three years. He moved closer to home in 1986 and landed a job in Sioux City. They’ve worked together since February 1989. “There have been times when a customer comes in and tells one of us something,” Brent said. “And we may give a look like we don’t understand. We have to ask them, ‘Were you talking with my brother before?’” Both live in Lawton and support the
Lawton-Bronson Eagles. Brent and wife Cheryl have two children, ages 22 and 18. Brian and wife Loyanne also have two kids, ages 7 and 4. Brent’s son, Alex, incidentally has followed Uncle Brian’s lead in taking the mound as a lefty ace for his high school baseball team. The Jensen twins also golf, often walking 18 holes with a group each Wednesday at The Meadows in nearby Moville. Brian is a slightly better golfer, coming it at a 4 or 5 handicap for 9 holes. Brent, however, weighs a bit less than his brother. “He works out more,” Brian said. Where did the twins’ love of the Twins take shape? Years and years ago, probably in the late 1960s when a Sioux Falls, S.D., television station picked up a
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few of the games. Both remember situating the rabbit ears antennae on their TV set in order to see the action unfold amid some snowy reception. “We could see what was happening, barely,” Brian said. “And we’d have the radio on so we could listen.” “Hard to believe we did things like that to watch a game,” Brent added. “Almost every game is on TV now.” And that’s part of what added to Blyleven’s popularity. The Twins broadcaster known for his “Circle Me Bert” game with the fans stood outside the Hall of Fame circle the past 14 years. While eligible for selection, the writers kept passing. When the twins began their quiet campaign on his behalf, Blyleven thanked them. He has called them a few times, had them up to the broadcast booth during their visits to the Metrodome. He also sent a Blyleven bobble-head that was autographed. And, he sent Brian a baby jersey when son Ben was born seven years ago. The Twins memorabilia was a welcome addition to a collection these twins began years ago. They have authentic jerseys, autographed baseballs, a bat and helmet and more. They even have two seats from Metropolitan Stadium before it was razed to make way for the Mall of America. They also have dirt from the old Met warning track. The autographs? “We got those when we were kids,” Brent said. To which Brian interjected, “To tell you how long ago this was, our parents would take us to a game and we’d stay at the Thunderbird Motel across the road. We’d get up on the day of the game and eat breakfast with our parents. And they they’d hand us our tickets and send us across the road.” It was 9 a.m. and a pair of Twins sat outside the Met waiting for their heroes to show up. Nearly four decades later, the twins’ fire for their Twins still burns. In fact, they’re toying with a new Hall of Fame aim. Tony Oliva, anyone? Jim Kaat, perhaps? Gentlemen, start your spreadsheets.
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Lawton youth looks back on historic Twins catch NOT OFTEN DOES A 13-year-old make Minnesota Twins history. Lawton’s A.J. Nitzschke did. The son of Jeff and Holly Nitzschke made Twins history when he caught Jason Kubel’s home run ball during the seventh inning of the Twins victory over the Boston Red Sox April 12, 2010. The date in Twins lore is known as Opening Day for Target Field, a stateof-the-art stadium that was at least 13 years in the making. Kubel’s homer was the first in an official major league game at Target Field. It landed in Nitzschke’s glove before popping out momentarily, only to be trapped with both hands against his chest amid a sea of fans scrambling for their piece of history. “I saw the ball off Kubel’s bat,” Nitzschke said during a break from study hall at Lawton-Bronson, where he’s now a 14-year-old eighth-grader. “The stadium got all quiet and I followed the ball. I looked down for a second to see the fielders moving and then looked back up and watched it.” Nitzschke reached and it hit in his glove. It came out for a split second before he clutched it tightly against his chest. Several fans dove at Nitzschke’s feet, thinking the historic homer had dropped. It hadn’t. In a matter of seconds, or so it seemed, Nitzschke was being interviewed by the on-field reporter for the Twins telecast. He and his family were ushered away from the field and down to the clubhouse. The Twins organization wanted that ball for permanent display at Target Field. The negotiations with team curator Clyde Doepner? Quick and painless. All A.J. wanted in exchange for the ball was a jersey autographed by his hero, catcher Joe Mauer. Oh, and the chance to meet All-Star Mauer would be cool, too. Consider it done. Nitzschke attended the post-game press conference, answered questions about his catch for stories that night and the following day. He then met Mauer and got his jersey. Mauer signed on the red No. 7 on the back of the jersey. He even personalized
SIOUXLAND LIFE
A.J. Nitzschke of Lawton, Iowa, shows off the Minnesota Twins jersey autographed by catcher Joe Mauer he received in exchange for the home run ball he caught in the right field bleachers on opening day, April 12, 2010. It was the first homer hit at Target Field and the Twins organization wanted it for historic purposes. The ball and picture of Nitzschke are now displayed at Target Field. Photograph by Tim Gallagher
it with a “Nice catch!” salute. “I was shocked, so I couldn’t really say anything to him,” Nitzschke remembered. Thankfully, mother Holly could interject. She asked Mauer for catching advice as that’s the position A.J. plays. Mauer responded by telling A.J. to ice his arm after games. The Twins added a bonus for the family of four (older brother Kirby, a LawtonBronson High School senior was named for Kirby Puckett): They invited them back and presented tickets for a game the day before Labor Day. “We got a tour of the entire stadium,” A.J. said, adding he got to see the baseball he caught presented now in a glass case with his name and Kubel’s. He also got to meet Kubel. That game ended just as the Opening Day contest: With a victory by the Twins.
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PROFILE Q&A
Two sets of answers. That’s what Nick Hytrek got when he interviewed identical twins Craig and Greg Berenstein. The Berenstein twins, Craig, left, and Greg, right, sit in the office of their father, Marvin, at the firm of Berenstein Moore Heffernan Moeller and Johnson law office in Sioux City.
FIRST UP: CRAIG, A FORMER MAYOR OF SIOUX CITY, WHO IS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, LEGAL AFFAIRS AND GENERAL COUNSEL, WELLS DAIRY IN LE MARS, IOWA. 1. Who’s the better looking of you two? He is by far. 2. How often did you get mistaken for one another when you were growing up? Very often. 3. Do people still mistake you for one another? Even to this day. Two weeks ago Greg was spending a lot of time at the Tyson Center at the NAIA volleyball tournament and I was getting calls from people asking if I enjoyed it, and I wasn’t there. Even at 51 years old, people are regularly not able to tell us apart. I think it’s a little easier when we’re together. 4. Did you ever pretend to be each other just to confuse people? We never tried to play that kind of game because we were sensitive to people trying to figure out which one of us was which. 5. Would it have worked? If we would have done it, it would have worked quite regularly. 6. Did you ever try to confuse your parents? No, and it never would have worked because they were very keen to who was who. If we were in separate rooms and they only heard our voices it might have, because our voices are so similar. 7. How did classmates and friends tell you apart? Most of our friends I don’t think ever really struggled. Greg was always a little bit taller and maybe a little bit thinner. 8. Did your mother dress you alike? Not that frequently. More often when we had formal events to go to. 9. Are you glad she didn’t more often? Yes. I think we both preferred to have a little bit of our own identity. 10. Do people just assume you both have the same personalities, likes and dislikes, almost like clones? No. I think people always recognized that we were different personalities. We do have CRAIG, CONTINUED NEXT PAGE 24
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20 QUESTIONS with identical twins
Craig and Greg Berenstein Text by Nick Hytrek | Photograph by Jerry Mennenga
NEXT: GREG, WHO MOVED BACK TO SIOUX CITY FROM CHICAGO IN SEPTEMBER AND IS A PARTNER IN THE LAW FIRM OF BERENSTEIN MOORE HEFFERNAN MOELLER & JOHNSON. 1. Who’s the better looking of you two? I think it depends on who you ask. Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder. 2. How often did you get mistaken for one another when you were growing up? All the time. Even our closest friends’ parents couldn’t tell us apart. 3. Do people still mistake you for one another? Oh yeah. In a way, even more so today. Now that I’ve moved back to Sioux City, people are more nervous because they don’t know who is who. 4. Did you ever pretend to be each other just to confuse people? I sure cannot remember trying to confuse people. We hated for people to be confused. 5. Would it have worked? I think it probably would have. 6. Did you ever try to confuse your parents? Never tried, never did. Now, I think the only time they’re ever confused is over the phone because our voices are very much alike. 7. How did classmates and friends tell you apart? After a while, they were aware of our differences. I don’t think our friends ever had problems telling us apart. 8. Did you mother dress you alike? Only until we were about 5. I think as soon as we were old enough to dress ourselves we dressed differently. 9. Are you glad she didn’t more often? My recollection is I think we did not like it and were glad we didn’t have to after a while. 10. Do people just assume you both have the same personalities, likes and dislikes, almost like clones? I think people are actually surprised we are as alike as we are. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve become more similar. 11. Do you consider yourselves to be any more similar than any other siblings would be? Maybe. For 26 years, we’ve lived apart and GREG, CONTINUED NEXT PAGE SIOUXLAND LIFE
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CRAIG BERENSTEIN
GREG BERENSTEIN
a lot of overlap though. We have some similarities that are almost uncanny. 11. Do you consider yourselves to be any more similar than any other siblings would be? I think twins are definitely more similar than typical siblings. 12. What’s the biggest difference between the two of you? The biggest difference is the fact that when we graduated from college, Greg was a little bit more adventuresome in going to a big city. I wasn’t quite as adventuresome. That and the fact that I think I’m a little more organized than he is. 13. Is there such a thing as a twin bond? Absolutely. He is clearly and always will be my best friend. Twins have a very unique bond that is very hard to define and to describe. 14. Can you finish each other’s sentences? I’ve never done that. I’m probably better at finishing my wife’s sentences than Greg’s, but that’s probably because I’m not around Greg as much. 15. Do you have a good idea what
each other is thinking? I think so. I think that our philosophy, our outlook on people and life is very similar. 16. Were there times growing up when you wished you weren’t a twin? I can honestly say I never wished I wasn’t a twin. I loved being a twin. 17. Did you purposely do things just to be different from your brother? I think that came more naturally. Greg was a little more academic. I think I was a little more athletic. 18. What do you like best about being a twin? I think the emotional tie that exists naturally. It’s something more than you get with regular siblings. 19. Is there anything you don’t like about being a twin? There really isn’t. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed. 20. What’s the dumbest question people ask you about being a twin? I don’t think anybody’s ever asked a dumb question. I don’t know that I’ve ever had one.
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I think we’re more alike now than we were as kids. 12. What’s the biggest difference between the two of you? Craig tends to be a little bit more traditional, conservative than I am. Not a lot more, just a little more conservative. 13. Is there such a thing as a twin bond? I think there definitely is. 14. Can you finish each other’s sentences? I definitely think that we think alike and that we have the same approach toward things. I think it’s possible that we could finish each other’s sentences, or at least each other’s thoughts. 15. Do you have a good idea what each other is thinking? I don’t know that I ever think about that. It’s usually more after the fact when we realize that we both thought about something the same way. 16. Were there times growing up when you wished you weren’t a twin? I don’t remember. I always felt that was pretty special. I can remember at times wishing I had another brother or sister. 17. Did you purposely do things just to be different from your brother? Yes, definitely in my case. When we were younger, it was clear what Craig excelled in, and that was athletics. That gave me the opportunity to explore what I was interested in and that was more on the academic side. 18. What do you like best about being a twin? I suppose that absolute bond, knowing he’s always there, knowing if I ever needed anything, he’d be there. Having that unique connection most brothers and sisters don’t have. 19. Is there anything you don’t like about being a twin? Only the confusion. Now we’re more often confused with each other since I’ve moved back. 20. What’s the dumbest question people ask you about being a twin? I don’t know. People would ask if we feel each other’s pain, things like that, but those aren’t dumb questions. I don’t know if I can think of any.
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Twins Levi and Landon Paulsen are pictured in the Woodbury Central weight room in Moville, Iowa.
TWIN TOWERS
Text by Tim Gallagher | Photographs by Jim Lee
DESPITE WHAT SCIENCE SAYS about twin telepathy, Landan Paulsen believes it exists. Twin telepathy is the idea twins somehow share brain waves and can feel one another’s pain, joy, etc. Sister Danielle Paulsen agrees with Landan, who thinks he and twin Levi share mental, verbal and emotional wavelengths. 28
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“We were riding in the car and some song came on,” Danielle said. “Right away, they were singing along, but they alternated words. I asked my mom if she was hearing it!” Mother Michelle wasn’t surprised. Neither was father Dan. Or younger sister Maddie. For years, the family has listened as these boys finish words, sentences and thoughts for one another.
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The Paulsen boys who turned 14 on 10-10-10 are known far and wide beyond Moville, Iowa, their hometown the past six years. While brain waves can be debated, a tale (or tales in this case) of the tape cannot. They tower over competitors in basketball, football, baseball, track and wrestling. Levi stands 6-feet, 3 1/4 inches tall, while Landan is at 6 feet. Landan weighs 225. Levi comes in just over
200 pounds. These are big eighth-graders. How big were they at birth? Landan, who was born 12 minutes before his brother, tipped the scales at 6 pounds 6 ounces. Doctors struggled with Levi, who had assistance emerging. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces. Levi almost didn’t make it. His umbilical cord was prolapsed and he aspirated fluid, forcing his parents to have him baptized immediately. Doctors ordered an airplane and flew the baby and Dad from the hospital in Aberdeen, S.D., to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls. The baby remained there for a month. Michelle and Landan were discharged from the Aberdeen hospital a day after the birth. They headed east and soon caught up with Dan and Levi in Sioux Falls. That’s when reality – or the shock – caught up with Michelle. “Levi was in an incubator at the NICU and he was next to this tiny, red baby that was no bigger than the palm of my hand,” she said. “And the doctor told me that baby was better off than Levi.” “That other baby was just small,” Dan said. “Levi was sick. He couldn’t breathe on his own.” In took two weeks, but Levi gained enough strength to breathe without assistance. He then had trouble eating and battled jaundice, and stayed in the
Twins Landan and Levi Paulsen weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 7 pounds, 5 ounces, respectively, at birth. They are the sons of Dan and Michelle Paulsen of Moville, Iowa. (Courtesy photo)
Twins Landan and Levi Paulsen hold up their first cousin, Kobey Gray, before a youth basketball game. The three have been classmates since second grade. Gray is six months younger than his “Twin Tower” cousins. (Courtesy photo)
hospital almost two more weeks. By the first week of November, he was good to go and came home to Warner, S.D., where the family resided. For 18 months, the couple religiously examined Levi’s development and compared it to Landan’s. Doctors advised the Paulsens that Levi could be hampered later in life because of what his body went through at birth. He lagged behind his brother when it came to holding his head up, rolling over, crawling and talking. “But he was never far behind,” Michelle said. “And by the time he was 2, he had caught up.” The boys did everything together. As toddlers, they climbed through, under, around or over everything. Michelle wrapped a layer of Duct tape around their waists to keep diapers secured. Why? “They would take off each other’s diaper,” she said with a laugh. “I might have been the only mom with a pair of scissors in the diaper bag.” They removed a screen from their bedroom window and jumped outside. They’ve always been a bit mischievous, trading desks and sections and papers to fool teachers at school on April Fools Day. They’re also very curious, fun and
outgoing. This fall, they campaigned for president (Landan) and vice president (Levi) of the Woodbury Central Middle School Student Council by handing out Twin Bings. Must have worked. Both won. That’s different from the last time they wrestled one another. That took place six years ago when, as secondgraders, they competed for a state peewee wrestling title. “I was sitting in the bleachers saying, ‘Go Landan,’ ‘Go Levi,’” Michelle recalled. “A woman sitting next to me caught on and said, ‘Oh no!’” Michelle and Dan had the same feelings. They did not want their twins to wrestle one another again. Hasn’t happened since. When they’re not presiding over middle school matters or competing as teammates, the Paulsen boys can be found playing Call of Duty with their friend and dad. They’re also members of the school band, choir and show choir. Landan likes bass guitar, while Levi leans more toward percussion. They hope to continue most – if not all – of these activities as high school freshman next fall. Already, they’re bigger than many of the linemen on the Wildcat football team. It will be weird seeing them in pads as both boys have been water boys since second grade. Both want to play football in college. “I don’t think Coach Manker can tell us apart,” Landan said. Actually, it’s tough. Their Grandpa Walt Paulsen still has a devil of a time. Identical? Their parents suspect they are, but they’re not positive. Michelle was told they’d have to do a DNA test to be sure. To date, they haven’t. This much they do know: Landan is left-handed; Levi is a righty. They are likely mirrors. And, yes, there are twins on both sides of the family. There’s also this “from the womb” reference. Levi and Landan are crazy about Chinese food, and have been known to make adult-sized dents at various Chinese buffets. “That’s funny because after every appointment when I was pregnant with the boys, Dan took me out to a Chinese restaurant,” Michelle said.
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Palmer Candy Company president Marty Palmer holds a Cherry Bing box from the 1930s.
TWIN BING NAME WAS A NATURAL Text by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Jim Lee
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REALLY, WHAT ELSE COULD the Palmer Candy Company’s most famous confection have been called? When the decision was made to add a second hump to the Bing candy bar when candy bar prices rose from a nickel to a dime in the 1960s, there wasn’t any widespread contest to come up with a name as there might be nowadays. The Twin Bing name was an in-house decision. Marty Palmer, president of Palmer Candy, was 12 at the time of the name change, which he’s been told was in 1969. As far as Palmer can tell, there wasn’t any big discussion about what to call the new candy bar once its second hump was added. “Some clever person here, I don’t know who, came up with the idea you could put two together and make it a twin,” Palmer said. “That was just natural. If you look at two of them, they look like twins.” The change came as candy companies nationwide were raising the prices of candy bars, which, because of the rising costs of ingredients, were becoming smaller and smaller so they could still be sold for five cents. Palmer said making the single Bing larger probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. Because of its shape, it already wasn’t the best fit in vending machines. “There wasn’t a way to make the single version any bigger,” Palmer said. Adding the second hump kept the Bing’s
shape vending-machine friendly. The new name also attracted attention. “It took off like a heartbeat. And Twin’s pretty clever. It’s better than ‘Bigger,’ ‘Better’ or ‘Double,’” Palmer said. The Twin Bing name markets itself well, Palmer said. It’s two short words, a tradition carried on with the larger triplehumped King Bing. The name also has a playful aspect to it. Palmer said it’s not uncommon for new parents give out Twin Bings rather than cigars to celebrate the birth of twins. Minnesota Twins baseball fans are always requesting them. “People over the years have had a great time making a play on the name,” Palmer said. And they have a great time eating the chocolate, peanut and cherry-flavored treat. Each day, Palmer Candy makes an average of 40,000 Twin Bings that are then distributed throughout the upper Midwest from Interstate 35 in Iowa west to the Rocky Mountains. The recipe hasn’t changed from the time the Bing was invented in 1923, although the other original flavors of vanilla, maple and pineapple are no longer produced. There are no changes in store for the Twin Bing – name or recipe, Palmer said. “You don’t mess with a formula that’s working well,” he said.
Above Becky Chicoine makes Twin Bings by hand at Palmer Candy. Below left Anita Rose sorts Twin Bings before they are packaged. Below right Lisa McCommon and Maria Rodriguez box Twin Bings.
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HONORARY TWIN CAN’T ESCAPE FASCINATION WITH ‘MULTIPLES’ Text by John Quinlan | Photograph by Jim Lee
ASK LANI PETTIT IF she is disappointed that she isn’t a twin, and “I don’t know” are the first words out of her mouth. But her denial seems undeniably lacking. Meanwhile, behind Lani, her sister Julie is smiling and nodding yes, yes, yes to the same question. Caught redhanded, Lani smiles and says, well, maybe, just maybe, she might be a little disappointed. But pointing to younger-but-taller sister Julie, Lani adds: “I think we grew up almost like twins. We always did everything together. Everybody asked if we were twins because we were so alike and about the same height.” Such is the life of Sioux City’s own “supertwinologist,” a word she coined to describe her fascination with twins, triplets, quads, quints and every other kind of multiple birth on record. And eventually, she earned the title “honorary twin,” for her work with twins. “Yeah, I was an honorary twin when they had an Iowa Twins Convention. They said that I was probably a reincarnation of the sixth quint,” she said That “sixth quint” refers, of course, to the famed Dionne Quintuplets who came into this world on May 28, 1934, in Ontario, Canada. A sixth embryo miscarried early in the mother’s pregnancy. It was Lani’s fascination with the Dionnes as a child in the 1950s after her mother told her about them that spurred her to become a collector and expert in the subject of multiples. They were the first known quintuplets ever to have survived their infancy. “I started collecting them in the late ’50s when I was in junior high – newspaper clippings and advertisements,” she said. “And I have dolls, paper dolls and a radio, spoons and dishes and I actually have some clothing that they really wore.” That still-working, little white 1940s radio with Dionne Quint decals on both Lani Pettit, who regards herself as a supertwinologist for her research and study of twins and other multiple births, shows off some of her photos and collections.
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sides is considered a valuable souvenir. She also has a hair bow from the quints, a recording of their young voices, home movies of the family and lots of photos. “It was fun for me to go up there and see where all that was,” she said. As a child, Lani went to the Sioux City Public Library to unearth everything she could about the Dionnes, copying in her notebooks the newspaper and magazine articles by hand, one by one, because they didn’t have photocopy machines back then. “That was the start of it. But probably by about 1965, I began to meet families that had multiple births, like the Sudbeck triplets of Sioux City. And there was a family in Minnesota with identical (adopted) Korean quadruplets,” she said. She continued to collect materials and take photos of multiples. “I counted up all the sets of multiples that I have photographed, and it’s well over 200 sets,” she said. She has enough research material collected over the years to start her own museum, or write a book, but she has declined to do either. She’s happy just meeting more multiples ... and thrilled to be the godmother of triplets. While she never met the Dionne Quints, Lani made a pilgrimage to their hometown last year, checking out the Quintland Museum there, the hospital built to care for the quints, their original farm home and the mansion they built later for the family. All were booming tourist sites back in the 1930s and ’40s, with the quints available for public viewing. What made the Dionnes special was that they were five identical quintuplets. The odds of that happening again haven’t increased in recent years despite the explosion of multiple births thanks to fertility drugs, she said. “Twins are like one in every 87 births. Natural,” she said. “Spontaneous, they call it. Twins. And then you go like 87 times 87. That’s 7,550. It’s how frequently triplets are. And then times 87 is quads. And then times 87 is quints. It’s like maybe one in 57 million. And they’re all identical, which is even rarer than that. And they were the first set that ever survived.” Pettit used to speak at Mothers of Twins conventions and other meetings. She attended the Twins Picnics that Sioux City used to have in the 1970s and even got to know the Sioux City’s sincegrown Sudbeck triplets. “Some of these families, I’ve gone to their weddings. They’ve just been like
Lani Pettit, pictured with the Merino triplets in an early portrait, was active in helping raise the girls, who have recently graduated high school. (Submitted photo)
family to me,” she said, pointing to the Fischer quints born in Aberdeen, S.D., in 1963 – and most especially, the identical Merino triplets, her goddaughters from Sioux City who moved to Norfolk, Neb., where they graduated from high school last year. “The Merino triplets have occupied much of my time over the past 18 years, helping raise them,” she said. “While they were small, I took them places like the art center, museum, mall. We went to have portraits taken regularly, even though I took hundreds of my own photos of them. They went to church with me regularly. Often they stayed overnight and once I babysat them for a week. We are very close and keep in touch by phone or Facebook.”
Among the more interesting multiples she met were Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, the world’s oldest living set of conjoined twins and the world’s only adult male conjoined twins. She met the Galyons, who are joined from the sternum to the groin, when they came to town with a carnival. Often, Siamese twins, as they are also called, made a living on the carnival circuit, and the Galyons are no exception. “It’s interesting ’cause that’s really how the other identicals would start out,” she said of conjoined twins. “If they wouldn’t have started the splitting process quite so late, if they had waited a bit longer, two or three days or whatever it is to split into two, they might stay stuck together.” When meeting twins or triplets, Lani said she enjoys trying to tell one from the other. When they are identicals, it is nearly impossible. And even fraternal twins can present a real challenge sometimes. “But like the (Merino) triplets, I know them so well, I’m kind of good at it but ... not always,” she said. “Even their mom will get them mixed up, too. And one time, I saw them get each other mixed up. You’d think they’d be perfect at it.” She never tires of meeting new multiples, though. “I would really like to meet the quintuplets in Sioux City,” she said of Anna, Brody, Ciara, David and Ella McCormick, the children of Kevin and Jodi McCormick, who were born Oct. 11, 2009, in Omaha. “I’ve never seen quints before. That would be wonderful if I could get a section on them.” So when did her interest in twins peak? “From a teenager to forever,” the supertwinologist said.
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Andrea Orr, a neonatal intensive care nurse at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center and mother of 9-year-old twins, holds twins Landon, left, and Tristan Bodammer at the Sioux City hospital.
TWINS REQUIRE DIFFERENT HEALTH CARE APPROACHES Text by Joanne Fox | Photograph by Tim Hynds
PARENTS OF TWINS MAY consider themselves doubly blessed, but when it comes to health care, they are also doubly challenged. A twin pregnancy can be a joyful, incredible experience, but it differs from carrying one baby, said Andrea Orr, St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center NICU nurse practitioner. “Twin and multiple pregnancies often involve a lot of things to take into 34
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consideration,” she said, particularly when it comes to prenatal care and the labor and delivery process. Multiple births are on the rise in the United States. Statistics point to more women having babies after age 30 and more are taking fertility drugs. Both increase the chance of carrying more than one baby. As with a single pregnancy, it’s important to see a health care provider
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regularly. Years ago, twins could be a surprise as the mother entered the delivery room. Now with ultrasounds, multiple pregnancies are discovered earlier; thus, allowing for better prenatal health care. Those appointments can ensure Mom and Dad that the pregnancy with those two babies is progressing as it should, Orr said. “For example, Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome is rare, but a possibility,”
she said, of the occurrence when blood moves from one twin to another. “In some cases, blood vessels may be ligated so the blood flow is interrupted.” The lowest-risk twins are fraternal, when two eggs are fertilized by two sperm, Orr said. “They are not identical and do not share the same DNA,” she said. “They have their own placenta and their own sac.” Identical twins, one egg fertilized by one sperm, which split early on in gestation thus resulting in two fetuses, can have their own challenges, Orr said. “They share the same placenta and maybe the same sac,” she said. “We’ve seen instances in which once the grasp reflex begins, one twin can hang onto the other’s umbilical cord in utero. The twins could be tangled in each other’s umbilical cords. So, identical twins need to be monitored.” The greatest concern comes from the fact that multiple pregnancy babies have a much higher risk of being born prematurely, Orr pointed out. “They just run out of room in there,” she said. “You have a 7- or 8-pound baby and the uterus starts contractions to get it out. But if you have two babies who add up to that weight, the uterus will still start contracting, whether those babies are ready to be born or not.” It’s not unusual for physicians to order bed rest from anywhere from 18 to 35 weeks, to delay labor, Orr said. “The biggest concern is the lungs,” she said. “They are the last organ to develop and that isn’t until 40 weeks into the pregnancy.” Labor and delivery are a bit different for the mother of multiples. Many women wonder if they would be able to have a vaginal birth, Orr said. “As long as both babies have their heads down, they certainly can be delivered vaginally,” she said. “If they are both breech, then that would warrant a cesarean section. Other reasons that might indicate a C-section is if the heart tones are weak or if there is a decrease in the babies’ movement.” Once the babies arrive, they go into a warmer right away, and later, they most likely will be transported to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Orr said. “We treat each baby like an individual,” she said. “We put name bands on them right away so there’s no chance of mix-up.” In fact, that’s one of the biggest
concerns parents have, Orr added. “Dads in particular worry that they won’t be able to tell one twin from the other,” she said. Health care providers are observing the breathing, sucking and swallowing reflexes, Orr pointed out. “If dads worry about mixing them up, moms worry about the feeding and nursing,” she said. “I tell them, it’s all about being patient. If everything else is fine, this will come, too.”
Once babies come home, parents may feel overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed and may have postpartum depression, said Orr, who gave birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, in 2001. “I tell them not to worry if the house is not in order or the laundry is not done,” she said. “And I encourage them to take up anyone who offers to help.”
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FRATERNAL BOND TWINS SHARE
Text by Joanne Fox | Photographs by Tim Hynds
PEOPLE WHO MEET KATIE Walker or her brother Chad Walker individually typically express their surprise when they discover the two are fraternal twins. “Most folks don’t get what it’s like to be a twin,” Katie stressed. “That’s probably because we’re not identical.” But the bond remains between the youngest children of Bill and Penny Walker. Born a month early into a family where fraternal twins are common on Penny’s side, Chad arrived first and Katie next on Aug. 30, 1991. The Walkers already had two boys, Kyle and Ryan. Even premature, Chad – older by an hour and a minute – weighed in at 7.5 pounds and Katie at 7 pounds. Chad’s health was fine, but Katie needed open heart surgery at 6 months and brain surgery at 18 months. “I call Chad my angel baby and Katie my miracle baby,” Penny said, 36
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much to the groans of both young adults. The two were dressed alike. “Great fun!” Penny insisted to more groans. That twin bond was reinforced until they started grade school in the Westwood Community School District. “It was the policy that twins could not be in the same classroom, so they separated Katie and Chad,” Penny said. “It was two weeks of Katie coming home every day crying that she couldn’t be with Chad. I couldn’t take it. She was having a meltdown every day.” Penny decided to visit with the principal and the two were placed in the same classroom. “He warned me that they would be holding hands in fifth grade,” Penny said. “For first grade, I asked Katie if it was important to be in the same classroom as Chad. She said, ‘Not so much.’ That vindicated my insistence.” Classmates were used to identical twins in the Westwood system, so the Walker twins weren’t so much of an anomaly. “Sometimes, when new students would find out we were twins, they’d ask a stupid question, like if we were identical,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “I’d always smile and tell them we
Fraternal twins Katie and Chad Walker talk about growing up as twins. The two 19-year-olds are shown in their rural Salix, Iowa, home.
weren’t.” Katie thought she got the better end of the deal with three older brothers. “No, it’s not like having three more fathers,” she said. “She’s spoiled rotten by them,” Penny said. “Sometimes, they would pick on me,” Katie retorted. “But most of the time it’s been good. It would have been nice to have a sister, though.” Both Chad and Katie dismissed the idea that they “sense” each other, like some identical twins claim. “I think we know more how each other feels by looking at each other,” Katie said. “They sense each other more than they’re letting on,” said Bill. “It’s not surprising to see one come downstairs in a certain shirt and the other come down in the same color. It happens all the time.” “When Katie had her surgery at 18 months and I’d take Chad to see her, he’d cry when we would leave,” Penny said. “The bond between them is really unbelievable.” Despite the closeness, the twins (and they both stressed they had no problem being called that) attend different colleges.
Chad is at Missouri Western in St. Joseph and Katie matriculates at Morningside College, Sioux City, but both chose science as their courses of study. “We visited Missouri Western and I really liked it,” said Chad, who is majoring in biology and pre-med. “So, I decided to enroll.” “I liked it, too,” Katie added. “But I visited Morningside and I really hit it off with one of the science instructors. Plus, I play softball, so I decided to go there.” Of course, the twins can communicate by cell phone and computer to stay in touch. Chad just had Skype, a software application that allows users to make visual voice calls over the Internet, installed so they can see each other. The connectedness is one of the best parts about being a twin, Katie said. “You always have somebody there to be friends with,” she said. “I was going to say that,” Chad added, and the two chuckled at the shared moment.
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ask a professional You can’t predict when you or another household member will get a scrape, cut, sunburns or cold that requires first aid, but you can be prepared. There are certain items that belong in every home first-aid kit.
Q: Which items should I have on hand?
A:
You should stock the following items in your kit, which you can take with you when you travel. When you use up an item, you replace it. Check the kit every few months to make sure medications haven’t expired. Dump expired drugs down the drain or garbage disposal. Adhesive bandages (Band-Aids) and elastic bandages Antacids (Tums) • Antidiarrhea medication (Pepto-Bismol) Antihistamines (Benadryl) • Antiseptics/antibiotics (to prevent Dr. Sneller infection in cuts and scrapes). An example is antibiotic cream (Polysporin) • Calamine lotion (to soothe skin irritations such as from poison ivy) Cotton swabs and cotton balls • Disposable instant-ice bags or freezer gel packs Gauze and adhesive tape • Hydrocortisone cream (Cortaid) (to relieve swelling from an insect stings or skin irritations) • Pain relievers/fever reducers (acetaminophen or ibuprofen, children’s formula if you have kids) • Psyllium or methylcellulose powder (to prevent or treat constipation) • Rehydration fluids for children (Pedialyte) • Scissors and tweezers • Thermometer • Tongue depressors (to make finger splints) Where should I keep my kit? Many people store their first aid-kit in their bathroom medicine cabinet, but humidity and heat from the shower can break down the medications. Instead, store it in a cool, dry, dark kitchen cabinet or bedroom closet. If you have children, place it high on a shelf behind a locked door. Anything else I should know? Don’t try to treat serious conditions yourself. See a doctor or, in the event of an emergency, call 911. Multicare Physicians Group is a collection of Chiropractors, Medical Doctors, Physical Therapists, Massage Therapists, Acupuncturists, and Massage Therapists who have come together under one roof. Located directly across from the Mazda dealership by the Explorers Baseball Stadium, they can be reached by calling (712) 276-HEAL. “For any type of Care…choose MultiCare.”
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HEALTH Online
medicine
PATIENTS
find medical connection
ONLINE
Text by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Jerry Mennenga
IT’S MIDNIGHT. YOU JUST remembered you need to refill your prescription tomorrow, but won’t be able to call the doctor’s office to ask someone to send a new prescription to the pharmacy. No problem. With a new online service offered by at least one Siouxland medical practice, you can send an electronic message to the clinic at any time of the day and get that prescription refilled during regular business hours. “We see it as being able to communicate more efficiently with the patient,” said Shanin Harding, executive director of Family Health Care of Siouxland, which has offered the online portal off of its website to patients of its six clinics since August. With the electronic Shanin Harding service, there’s no more leaving phone messages, missing calls or waiting on hold. Messages can be sent from anywhere at any time, and patients can access the system from their cell phones or other wireless devices. “The patient calling in for something is going to be a thing of the past,”
Harding said. All you have to do is supply the clinic with an e-mail address. Then the clinic sends an e-mail invitation to join the portal. The patient creates a user name and password and is in. A separate account can be created for each family member. Through the portal, patients can request a prescription refill, fill out forms, request an appointment and ask medical questions of the physicians and nurses. They can also have results of medical
tests sent to them through the portal. The physician can send a separate message explaining the results and offering recommendations based on those results. Dr. Joe Kurth, a physician at Family Health Care’s Northside clinic, said he’s still getting accustomed to the service, but sees that it will save time for both himself and the patient by being able to exchange information quickly. “If a patient calls in, the nurse can send me a message right away and I can
Family Health Care, Northside Clinic, electronic health records specialist Lori Winge, right, pulls up sample web pages as executive director Shanin Harding, background, talks about patients utilizing an online portal that will enable them to give their physicians information as well as asking questions prior to scheduled appointments, which can also be done online.
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Family Health Care patients can now scheduled appointments online.
Dr. Joe Kurth says his patients can utilize an online portal that will enable them to give their physicians information.
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e-mail them back between patients,” Kurth said. The service will make communication with patients easier, Harding said. The system can be programmed to send automatic reminders to patients with diabetes, for example, that it’s time to schedule periodic tests and examinations. That’s something that’s currently done through regular mail. “We can do a lot of marketing and patient management through the web portal,” Harding said. Once patients receive that information, they can save it in their accounts. That’s helpful, because they can go back and review a doctor’s recommendations or compare new test results with old ones. “The patient will always have a copy of that report and can always go back,” said Lori Winge, Family Health Care electronic health records specialist. Has it caught on? Winge said more than 2,600 patients have signed up, a small percentage of Family Health Care’s patient base. As word gets out, it should become more popular. “As we get going it’ll catch on,” Harding said. The system is secure, Winge said, comparing it to banking online. Just be sure to keep your password guarded so others can’t log in under your name. Highly confidential test results such as pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases won’t be available in the portal, just so the information isn’t seen by the wrong person. The number of older patients utilizing the service has been surprising, Harding said. It’s not just something the younger generations used to electronic devices have latched onto. But for those generations, it probably will eventually become second nature to communicate with care providers electronically. “In the next 10 years, I think this is going to be the wave of those people who are so electronic now,” Winge said.
HEALTH Medical
Records
Cindy Davis, house supervisor at Burgess Health center in Onawa, Iowa, talks about the hospital’s new in-room computers. Staff use the computers to fill out patient charts and read orders at bedside.
COMPUTERS ENABLE
REAL-TIME CHARTING Text by Joanne Fox | Photograph by Tim Hynds
REGISTERED NURSE CINDY DAVIS recalled entering a patient’s room at Burgess Health Center, Onawa, Iowa, chatting briefly, dispensing medications, checking vitals, and writing everything down. Since June 2010, Davis can converse longer with the patient, discussing care and concerns, because information is now posted in real-time, in a wallmounted computer, complete with keyboard tray and mouse. Burgess went “live” with this point of
care documentation in June, according to Patty Sandmann, senior nursing director. “Our nurses were well-prepared, so it went smoothly,” she said. Most hospitals have computers in the halls or nursing stations so the health care providers can chart information quicker. Since the computers were installed in every patient room six months ago, the results have been very positive, said Davis, who is the house supervisor for the hospital. “Previously, we did everything on
paper, which takes away from patient contact,” she explained. “Yes, we could sit and hand-chart while talking with the patient, but information would still have to be entered elsewhere,” Davis clarified. “Now, we can even enter information at the bedside while the patient is sleeping, if need be.” The process has streamlined health care in the Monona County health care facility. For example, a nurse can come into a patient’s room with medication, which is scanned, as is the patient’s
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armband with a bar code scanner, linked alert the nurse to any possible interacto the computer, to match the drug’s tions with other drugs, Davis said. code with the patient’s medical record “You can talk and chart at the same to ensure it is the right medication. The time, andCancer that’s the strength of this preAt the June E. Nylen Center, we offer advanced chemotherapy, targeted she radiation, national expertise and computer is programmed to look and sentation,” stressed. support.
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Davis reported patients were quite pleased with the approach. “They like the reinforcement of the scanning of the armband and the information entered directly into their records,” she said. Patient information, such as a list of medications and health history, is entered when an individual is admitted, Davis explained. “When the nurse comes into the room, logs in and scans the armband, the patient’s history comes up,” she said. “We can click through various screens, not only to key in information, but to evaluate the medications, procedures and care that is being provided.” Not only do the nurses use the computers, but so do the medical technicians and some of the doctors, Davis noted. “The physicians may use other technology, such as cell phones, to record information,” she said. “But they are seeing the benefits and especially how the patients are understanding and appreciating the benefits of the computers.” Davis saw continuum of care as a plus with the computers. “Before this, if we were called out of a patient’s room because of an emergency, there might be a chance of overlooking some bit of information to chart,” she said. “With the computers, if we are called out, we can save the information we were entering and when we return, it’s still there to expand on. “Also, if a patient is hospitalized and released and might need to return to the hospital several days later, we have quick access to those records,” Davis said. “Before this, we might have to spend time looking for those charts, which patients don’t appreciate. Now, it’s right here for us.” Burgess prevents the possible spread of infection by using a “skin” over the keyboards that housekeeping disinfects. Davis said younger patients will tease about using the computers to surf the Net or play games; either for the staff or for themselves.” “They are hard-wired into the hospital system so there’s nothing like that in the system,” she reported. “Actually, we do have computers with games on them for patient use, so they do have that option.”
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ADVICE Medical
Answers
‘DOC, I’VE GOT A QUESTION …’ answers to your medical questions
MEET THE DOC Dr. Amanda Schoenherr Dannenbring is a resident physician at the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation, a family medicine residency program.
My mother always said it was good for me to get outside in the winter because it would boost my immune system. Is that true? Or are you better off staying in? It is a common myth that cold weather brings on colds. However, there is no conclusive evidence that cold temperatures increase the chance of catching a cold or have an effect on your immune system. The most consistent evidence between winter weather and catching a cold is actually based on a person’s behavior. The common cold is more prevalent in the winter months because people spend more time indoors, increasing their exposure to viruses. The common cold is caused by a virus that infects the upper respiratory tract. Symptoms include cough, sore throat, runny nose and nasal congestion. Fever is often present. At times people may also get pink eye (conjunctivitis), muscle aches, fatigue, headaches and decreased appetite. Influenza can usually be distinguished from a common cold by its rapid onset of fever and cough. The symptoms of a cold can be more severe in people who smoke. Common colds are transmitted when tiny particles containing the cold virus are inhaled or come into contact with our eyes, nose or mouth. Virus particles are emitted when people sneeze, cough or exhale. There is no treatment that will shorten the duration of a cold. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen (Tylenol) will help lessen the discomfort or fever associated with a cold. Also, when you have a cold, you will want to get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids to keep hydrated. Antibiotics will not help a cold as these medicines are for bacterial infections, not viruses. Typically, a cold will resolve in seven-10 days but some symptoms can last as long as three weeks. I’m going on vacation soon and everyone tells me to worry about the hotel room. Yes, I know bedbugs are a 44
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problem in some places, but what else should I be concerned about? There is no such thing as a germ-free hotel room, but consider that millions of people stay in hotel rooms every year and do not get sick. Regardless, there are ways that you can decrease your chances of getting infections when you are vacationing. Germs in hotel rooms can live on any surface including door knobs, light switches, faucets, telephones, remote control, hair dryers, thermostats, alarm clocks and the bathroom. Wiping down some of these items with disinfectant wipes can help decrease your chances of infection. Carpets typically do not get cleaned unless they are visibly stained, so wear socks instead of going barefoot. Consider wearing shower shoes. Check the pillows and bedding for lice or bedbugs. And last but not least, wash hands frequently to prevent inadvertently introducing bacteria to your nose or mouth. If someone in your family gets the flu, is it inevitable that others will, too? How can I prevent it? While it is not absolutely inevitable that others will get the flu if someone else in the family (or household) gets it, your risk for infection is increased. The reason is secondary to the close living quarters you share. The influenza virus is shed and transmitted when those ill with the virus cough or sneeze, spreading the viral particles into the air for others to unfortunately inhale. Influenza is caused from influenza virus. Symptoms typically include the rapid onset of fever and cough. Other symptoms are common and include sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Some people may also get vomiting and diarrhea. However, these are not
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the primary symptoms. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has three tips for preventing yourself from getting influenza. The first and most important is getting vaccinated. The influenza vaccine for the 2010-2011 flu season will protect you from influenza A (type H3N2), influenza B, and also influenza A (type H1N1). Everyone older than 6 months should get the vaccine. Those at higher risk for complications, including young children, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart or lung disease and those older than the age of 65, are especially encouraged to get vaccinated. Secondly, do your part to prevent the spread of germs. Cover you nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands often or use an alcohol-based sanitizer. Avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. If you are ill, refrain from returning to work or school until you are without a fever for 24 hours. Lastly, if your doctor prescribes you an antiviral medication, take it as prescribed. There are a few antiviral drugs available to help shorten the duration of influenza. Antiviral drugs must be used early (within the first 48 hours of symptoms) and are typically used to treat those who are extremely ill (aka hospitalized). At times those who are at an increase for complications are treated with antiviral medications. Again, these include young children, pregnant women, those older than 65, and those with lung or heart disease including asthma.
WHAT KIDS OF HEALTH QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE? Submit your questions and they may be used in this monthly feature. Write to Siouxland Life at 515 Pavonia St., Sioux City, Iowa 51102.
SNAP SHOTS Fundraisers LITTLE YELLOW DOG AUCTION Dave Nixon Sr., and Randy Renshaw at the Journal’s Mr. Goodfellow charity Little Yellow Dog auction at the Terra Center Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010.
OUT & ABOUT
Above Denny and Lynne Boulden, Sioux City, at the Little Yellow Dog auction. Left Lois Nichols and Doris Howell, both of Sioux City, at the Little Yellow Dog auction.
Photographs by Jim Lee
YOUR PICTURE HERE Have a fundraiser or event that should be featured in this section? Call (712) 293-4234 or e-mail ahynds@siouxcityjournal.com.
Builders’ shows Keeps home Builders and home owners at top of Game Have you ever wondered what sets professional home builders apart from guys who work “out of the back of their trucks”? Well, the answer is simple and it comes from the word “professional.” As with most professions, home builders and remodelers who keep up-to-date with new laws, methods and materials can offer the most to their clients. You wouldn’t feel comfortable getting your taxes done by someone who hasn’t studied the latest tax code or going to a doctor who only finished four years of medical school instead of 12, would you? In the home building profession, there are new building codes every three years, in addition to new energy, fire, plumbing, electrical and mechanical codes, all of which come with countless upgrades. There are state-wide, county, municipal and city codes. Professional home builders and remodelers have to be on top of these and take them into consideration when building your new home.
Because buying a new home is such a huge investment, one that you will live with for many years, it make sense to have it built by someone who knows the latest codes, as well as someone who knows what the newest materials and techniques are, where to get them, and how to use them. Each year there are hundreds of new products available to make your home better and your life easier.
2011 to visit with professional builders, remodelers, retailers and other trades in the industry. With more than 165 exhibitors at this years show you can experience four days of seminars, hourly prize giveaways, and an abundance of this years’ newest products on display.
Many residential construction industry professionals keep abreast of new rules, product advancements and changing technology by attending the annual International Builders’ Show. More than 50,000 of the industry’s top professionals – builders, remodelers, architects and suppliers – recently gathered January 12-15 in Orlando, Fla. Closer to home is one of Siouxland’s largest professional trade shows for the homeowner, the 54th Annual Siouxland Home Show. Come to the Sioux City Convention Center February 24-27,
For more information on the 54th Annual Siouxland Home Show, including dates, show hours, directions to the Sioux City Convention center, and a list of exhibitors, visit our web site at www. hbags.com.
Doug Conrad President Heritage Homes of Siouxland
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712-255-3852 www.hbags.com FEBRUARY 2011
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#1 in Childbirth. Because of you. At St. Luke’s, we strive to be the best at what we do. Not for ourselves, but for you — our patients — from the very beginning. That’s why St. Luke’s is your #1 choice for childbirth, delivering more babies than anywhere in Siouxland. These little extras make up our approach to family-centered care, delivering the best experience for you and your new baby. We’re here for the life of Siouxland. And all its newborn miracles.
For the life of Siouxland. www.stlukes.org
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*
Award given by: 2010 National Research Corporation
PARTING SHOT By
Bruce Miller
WHAT I’VE LEARNED Why? How many times a day have you asked that question? Why, for example, do customer service representatives express such disinterest in both customers and service? Why, when you call them, are they the last people you’re able to reach? My situation: Frustrated with a credit card company’s billing procedure, I called to ask why – why do they require payment before a week has passed? Before I even heard a human voice, I had to deal with automated language selections, directory listings, “say or press” commands and a scary voice that told me she couldn’t understand what I was saying. After the “all of our representatives are busy” message, that ominous voice came on and told me, “I’m hanging up now” for no good reason. I redialed, heard the litany of options and discovered – accidentally – that I could just “say” “customer representative” and get connected to a Real Live Person. When I got her, she was pretty snippy and cautioned that she’d hang up if I decided to use profanity. This was new. Swear and you’ll hang up? I got a machine to hang up and I didn’t have to utter a single word. When I tried to ask my question, she told me I could just as easily send it online, through a customer service website that would ensure an answer within 24 hours. But what about the Real Live Person on the other end of the line? “Sir, I’m not authorized to give out that information.” Say what? When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she said she’d have to connect me to another line where the “wait times” could be extensive. “You could just as easily handle this online.” Obviously someone had been coached to push the website. So, I went to that website and, after searching through three pages, found a place where you can “contact us!” After typing in every piece of information I’ll never remember a year from now, I got to the section for “comments!” I typed my question, pressed “submit” and got an error message. Three tries later, I got the good news: “Your comment has been submitted. It is very important to us. You should receive an
answer within 24 hours.” A day later, I got an e-mail that said the comment had been received and someone was going to respond. Did I have a phone number where a representative could call? I e-mailed my home phone (which, by the way, they should have had since they asked for that information initially) and a day later, got a phone message from that ominous voice that said that my concern was very important to her. “Please call between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and a customer representative will be standing by.” She also gave me a 9-digit reference number that I had to punch in once I got through. Gamely, I did what I was told and got another Real Live Person who proceeded to ask me questions about my account. She wasn’t a font of information about my question – in fact I had to give her those numbers in order for her to “call it up” to see what the “nature” of my concern was. Acting like she had been researching this problem for months, she uttered a few “ums,” then directed me to some insert in a bill from last summer that indicated the company was changing its policy regarding billing. “At the time, customers were invited to share their concerns.” Now, however, all bets were off. “Is there anything I can do?” I asked. “If you like,” the Real Live Person said, “I can connect you with someone in account review who can take a look at your situation.” My situation? I didn’t have a situation. I just wondered why I got a bill on Photo by Ciaran Griffin Saturday and was expected to have it paid by Monday. “Sir, if you’d like to pay automatically, we can arrange to withdraw the amount monthly from your checking account.” No, I wasn’t interested in that. I just wanted a respectable grace period between bill and payment. “That’s not my department,” she said, sensing a bout of profanity on my part. “I’ll transfer you.” When someone finally answered (after four rings), the voice sounded coached. “Ma’am,” she said, “what is the nature of your concern?” Sometimes it just isn’t worth curbing the profanity.
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Reflect your own personal style
715 East Ninth Street South Sioux City, NE 68776
402-494-5411
Lisa Lines, Owner • Jamie Miller, AKBD