Project: Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant (BAECP) and Ames Laboratory
Former Workers Medical Surveillance Programs (UI-FWP)
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Description: This funding will ensure those that helped in the defense of our country receive the care they deserve. In 1993, Congress passed a law requiring the DOE to evaluate the long-range health conditions of current and former employees who may be at risk for health problems as a result of their employment at DOE sites. The DOE later contracted with The University of Iowa to coordinate a medical surveillance program for a DOE site in Iowa: the Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant (BAECP) at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) in Middletown, Iowa. The University of Iowa was also tasked with implementing needs assessment activities and former worker medical screenings for the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The funding would be used for the seventh year of the program, including cohort identification, education, risk stratification, and targeted screenings and claims assistance.
Project: Center for Evidence-Based Practice in School Health for Children
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $900,000
Description: An estimated 5.2 to 7.8 million children with a significant chronic health problem attend school every day in the United States. Federal and state mandates (No Child Left Behind, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and professional standards of practice require school nurses and educators to provide interventions based on current research. However front line school nurses, teachers and administrators have limited training in conducting, evaluating, and accessing current scientific information. Recent reports support the critical need for the development, dissemination, and implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) guidelines to address health problems in school to optimize the health and education of U.S. school children in an efficient and cost effective manner. The requested funding will support the following objectives: a) development of EBP guidelines for school nurses, teachers, and administrators; b) dissemination of EBP guidelines; c) education of leaders in EBP guidelines; and d) evaluation of the implementation of EBP guidelines and outcomes.
Project: Epidemiologic Health Survey of DOD Contract Workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant
Recipient: The University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $915,000
Description: Preserving the health of those who work towards national security is essential. This funding will support quality jobs while investing in cutting –edge research. Between 500,000 and 800,000 workers in the United States are estimated to be exposed to beryllium dust through work in the munitions industry. Typically 3 to 5% of exposed workers develop Beryllium Sensitivity and half of these may progress to Chronic Beryllium Disease. Munitions workers, such as those at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP), provide an irreplaceable service to our nation and research into the effects of beryllium exposure is critical to assuring their health and safety.
This funding would be used for the final year of a five year study of the health effects of munitions industry work. This study is the largest cohort epidemiologic study of cancer and mortality in the munitions industry. Funds will be directed toward personnel and supplies needed to examine the mortality and cancer incidence of more than 35,000 federal munitions contract workers.
Project: Iowa College of Public Health Academic Building
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $8,000,000
Description: Investing in public health creates jobs while stimulating the economy, fostering long term industry growth, and empowering our researchers and scientists. The emergence of global infectious diseases including AIDS, SARS, avian influenza and the possibility of global pandemic influenza have heightened public awareness of the need for improved public health preparedness. Incidents of bioterrorism in the nation’s capitol in 2001 and the numerous natural disasters of 2008 only dramatized and increased the urgency to redress unmet U.S. public health needs. A strong public health system that can react quickly and effectively is essential to national security. A spate of reports and Congressional testimony called for increased investment in public health infrastructure including new knowledge and new trained professionals. This facility will provide one building block in the nation’s growing need to understand, explain and predict complex public health phenomena through research, to produce highly trained front line professionals in this field and to provide professional and educational services to the public. The requested funding will be used for site preparation, construction, and the purchasing of equipment.
Project: Iowa Institute for Biomedical Diversity
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $8,000,000
Description: It is critical that we invest in science and technology, creating jobs now and laying the groundwork for future industry growth and innovation. National health statistics dramatically illustrate that chronic and acute health conditions related to cardiovascular disease, cancer, the nervous system and aging account for the vast majority of the nation’s mortality and morbidity. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke are the nation’s number 1 cause of death—over 1 million per year. One in four people have some form of CVD with 6 million hospitalizations annually and an annual cost of about $274 billion. There were 1.4 million new cancer diagnoses in 2007 with an estimated 1,500 deaths per day and a cost of $189 billion. The health needs of the nation’s aging population will increase exponentially in the decades immediately ahead. The National Institutes of Health has called for bold new approaches to biomedical research, treatment and prevention to meet these needs. The requested funds will pay for site preparation, building construction and laboratory equipment purchases for the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Diversity so that they may be better positioned to compete for NIH funding to find cures for these diseases.
Project: Living Facility Repair and Upgrades for Persons with Disabilities
Recipient: Systems Unlimited, Inc.
2533 Scott Boulevard, SE
Iowa City, IA 52240
Amount Requested: $250,000
Description: Systems Unlimited, Inc is an Iowa non-profit corporation providing services to over 1,100 children and adults with developmental disabilities. Systems Unlimited supports individuals with developmental disabilities living in 72 houses, apartments, or duplexes in Johnson, Washington, Jones, Muscatine, Cedar and Iowa counties. They own 39 of the 72 environments. Twenty-seven of the 39 environments were built with HUD Section 202 funding. However, the remaining twelve environments have no funding stream to maintain and renovate the physical environment. Providing these individuals with services in a safe and healthy environment is of the utmost importance.
Project: “Minutes Matter” 64-Slice CT Scanner
Recipient: Ottumwa Regional Health Center
1001 Pennsylvania
Ottumwa IA 52501
Amount Requested: $1,300,000
Description: Hospitals are the lifeblood of a community. They provide essential services while creating jobs and fostering long term economic growth. The funding I am requesting would be used for the purchase of a 64-Slice CT Scanner for diagnostic and emergency cardiology services in southeast Iowa. Heart disease affects one in three adults--nearly 31,000 in an eight-county region around Ottumwa. Technology to diagnose life-threatening and life-changing heart conditions within minutes of arrival to an emergency room will help Ottumwa Regional Health Center increase access and eliminate disparities among one of Iowa's most rural, aged and poorest areas of the state.
Project: Preventing Disease Through the Institute for Novel Vaccine and Anti-Microbial Design (INOVA)
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $5,000,000
Description: Over the last 200 years, the use of vaccines, a mainstay of preventative medicine and public health, has proven to be one of the most successful and cost-effective medical interventions ever discovered. However, despite these great advances to human and animal health over the past five decades, it has for the most part stopped working. This is mainly due to the fact that the remaining large list of human and major animal disease-causing microbes is inherently resistant to current vaccine technologies. Many of these problems could be prevented by a new class of effective anti-microbials. I requested funds for the University of Iowa to support collaborative research projects between UI and Iowa State University faculty members. Investing in research will create jobs now and spur American ingenuity and innovation in the long run.
Project: Rural Health IT Network
Recipient: Van Buren County Hospital
304 Franklin Street
Keosauqua, IA 52565
Amount Requested: $1,500,000
Description: Our healthcare providers create jobs, innovate within their field, and make our community stronger and safer. That is why I requested funding to connect the Van Buren County Hospital Beta Site into the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics IT network. Funding is needed for the project to develop the appropriate linkages and firewalls between the two hospitals for shared information, network support, and to maintain privacy/HIPAA compliance. This investment will have a long term cost-saving effect. According to the Rand Corporation, investing in health information can produce annual savings of $40 billion over a 15-year period.
Project: University of Iowa Patient Care Safety and Excellence Institute
Recipient: University of Iowa
105 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
Amount Requested: $1,100,000
Description: Access to affordable, quality healthcare is essential for communities to grow and succeed. The Institute would provide a locus for collaboration of the Factors and Statistical Modeling Laboratory (Engineering) and In Situ Simulation Center (Anesthesiology) that would include elements of both labs in an effort to improve patient safety at UI Health Care, develop means for measuring system flaws that lead to error and unsafe environments for health care delivery, and create a set of tools for education and support of health care workers in the assessment and recognition of such flaws before errors occur. As the only academic medical center in Iowa, the UI’s Hospitals and Clinics have become a resource for the entire state in many fields represented by its educators, researchers and providers. The systems are already in place to provide rapid networking with other health care institutions across Iowa, and so the Institute will provide a clearinghouse for education in safety and systems improvement that will improve the safety of health care throughout Iowa and beyond. The requested funding would be used for personnel, including faculty and staff release, graduate students and hourly student staff; for development of hardware and software within the Factors and Statistical Modeling Laboratory (Engineering) and In Situ Simulation Center (Anesthesiology); and for curriculum development within the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy. These funds will create jobs that will foster economic growth and make the community stronger.
Project: Van Buren County Hospital Expansion
Recipient: Van Buren County Hospital
304 Franklin Street
Keosauqua, IA 52565
Amount Requested: $3,000,000
Description: At a time when Iowans are struggling to find work, these funds will create jobs and foster long term economic growth in Van Buren County. The requested funding would go toward site preparation, construction, and equipment purchase for several key ancillary areas at Van Buren County Hospital including an administrative/cardio pulmonary area, a dietary wing, and a new clinic area. Van Buren County Hospital serves one of the poorest counties in the state, and the hospital is the second largest employer in the county.
Project: Washington County Public Health Building
Recipient: Washington County Department of Public Health
210 West Main Street
Washington, IA 52353
Amount Requested: $1,440,000
Description: The requested funding would be used to construct a new public health building in Washington County. New construction will stimulate the local economy and create good paying jobs. The requested funding would also allow for a secure area for storage of all of Washington County's medical records. The County Department of Public Health was forced from their former building due to a hospital remodel and has been renting disparate office space in several buildings. The new building would serve citizens in one centralized location providing a greater level of convenience while cutting down on transportation costs. The funding will also improve patient’s privacy during visits through secure record storage.
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