Women from the community gathered virtually on Wednesday to hear motivational speakers and celebrate women in business.Â
Business Woman of the Year Sara Blair. Photo provided by Katryn Conlin.
Blair is the administrator of Sauer Health Care in Winona. She was nominated by Annie Ruppert, the human resources director at Sauer.Â
âOur small nonprofit nursing home became only the fourth facility in the state of Minnesota to be exposed to the COVID-19 virus. At that time very little guidance was available, not to mention protective equipment and, more importantly, access to testing. Luckily for the Sauer team, we had Sara on our side. From the very first day, and 33days after that, Sara was on the front line sun up to sun down,â Ruppert said. âQuite simply, our staff team rallied despite the uncertainty, fear and daunting workload based in large part upon Saraâs genuine and unwavering leadership.â
Steve Grove: Health care industry, employees are critical to the state
Gov. Walz proclaimed January Health Care Month to highlight the critical importance of Minnesota’s health care industry to our economy.
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If there’s one thing that the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, it’s the importance of the health care industry. Health care workers not only save lives, they’re a critical driver of the Minnesota economy. Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the Rochester area, where health care makes up a larger percentage of total employment than it does in any other region of the state.
Infections creep up; vaccines arrive at nursing homes (1/6/2021)
Vaccinations are continuing for medical workers across Winona County, and some of the first nursing home residents received vaccinations last week. Meanwhile, local COVID infections seem to be rebounding slightly after falling dramatically last month.
After falling to a low of 74 on December 29, the seven-day total of new COVID cases in Winona County crept back up 127 as of Tuesday, roughly on par with mid-December figures. The closure of testing sites on holidays threw off COVID infection data somewhat, and it’s still too early to tell whether Christmas or New Year’s gatherings will fuel a new surge, Winona County Public Health Supervisor Melanie Tatge said. “We may level out again. We don’t know. It all depends on that surge from the holidays,” she said, adding, “We won’t see that from the holidays until later this week, and from New Year’s, we won’t see that until ne
Photo by Chris Rogers
Winona Health Director of Emergency and Urgent Care Services Beth Poulin gave physician Joseph Kaiya a shot of Pfizer s coronavirus vaccine. COVID vaccinations begin in Winona (12/18/2020)
In a potential turning point in the fight against the coronavirus, Dr. Joseph Kaiya became the first person in Winona to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Kaiya was one of 15-20 Winona Health staff who rolled up their sleeves on Friday. Winona Health is a hub for local distribution of the Pfizer vaccine because the hospital has the ultra-cold freezers needed to store it, and the health system plans to offer shots to all of its front-line hospital staff, nursing home residents, and nursing home staff next week. Other local nursing homes, ambulance crews, and COVID testing staff are expected to receive shots of the Moderna vaccine starting the week of December 28.