On Monday, August 12th, I had the opportunity to join leaders from the Ascension Howard Young Medical Center as well as the Howard Young Foundation. The tour highlighted multiple community initiatives that increase access to crucial medical care. It was great to see firsthand how these initiatives are benefiting our area.
We started the afternoon off by touring Lakeland Food Pantry to discuss how they have partnered with Howard Young Medical Center to increase access to medical screenings. This partnership has established a health committee called the Medical Mission Health Committee. The committee was created to develop a sustainable plan for the delivery of screenings and support service in alignment with the identified community health needs. Roughly 1,300 individuals are served by the pantry each month and many will benefit from health services and resources. The health screenings and educational offerings will be offered three times per month.
Rep. Swearingen with the Director of Lakeland Food Pantry,Lorna Springate.
We then traveled to Lakeland Airport in Arbor Vitae to see the new fixed-wing medical air transport plane called the Spirit 3. The Cessna Conquest 2 is a medically configured twin-turboprop aircraft that will be able to carry one patient, a pilot and critical care registered nurse along with a critical care paramedic. Based in Arbor Vitae, the plane can travel at speeds up to 350 mph and will be able to fly in weather that typically grounds helicopters. The aircraft will enhance medical transport services by flying patients to cities with the ability to land in smaller airports.
The new fixed-wing medical air transport plane, Spirit 3. This is a collaboration with Howard Young Medical Center, Trig Solberg and International Charters.
On our last stop, we traveled to Howard Young Medical Center to tour their new Practical Assessment Exploration System (PAES). In partnership with Lakeland STAR School/Academy, the PAES is a work development lab where students become employees and teachers become employers. The lab is used to assess a student’s competitive work potential and interest level, while simultaneously exploring various jobs, using real tools, and developing proper work behaviors in these five areas:
Computer Technology
Construction/Industrial
Processing/Production
Consumer/Service
Business/Marketing
The Lakeland STAR School/Academy PAES lab at the Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff is the first of its kind to put a PAES lab in a local community.
I would like to thank Eric Johnson from the PAES Lab and Ascension Howard Young Medical Center for having me experience firsthand the important initiatives they are addressing in our community. There continued mission of advancing the health and wellness of all the people they serve through charitable support is outstanding. Thank you, Howard Young Medical Center for having me!
Tour of Pride Manufacturing
This spring, I had the opportunity to take a tour of Pride Manufacturing in Florence, Wisconsin. Pride Manufacturing, founded in 1930, has designed and produced a variety of woodturning products. In addition to Florence, Pride has manufacturing facilities in Maine and Hong Kong with sales offices in England, Arizona, and Tennessee. They produce golf tees and cleats, cigar tips, wooden toy parts, among other things. The golf tees they produce are sold all over the world.
In the Florence plant, Pride paints, prints and packages golf tees and other golf tournament related products. It was amazing to see the manufacturing process first hand. The complexity of the machines and the volume of product they produce each day is astounding.
Wisconsin is known for our manufacturing leadership. Our state offers incentives like the Wisconsin Manufacturing and Agricultural tax credit, which plays a vital role in ensuring companies all over Wisconsin have the tools and resources needed to continue providing family-sustaining wages. Having tax credits like these creates a competitive advantage, which allows manufacturers to maximize production here in our great state. I am proud to support tax incentives like these to secure economic growth for years to come.
Thank you to Pride Manufacturing's Operation Manager Lea Ellis for accommodating us and Wendy Gehlhoff from the Florence County Economic Development Corporation for arranging the tour.
Please click the picture to check out the video!
Justice Hagedorn Investiture
On Wednesday, August 14, Justice-elect Brian Hagedorn was sworn in as a Justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The investiture ceremony was held in the Rotunda at the State Capitol. Welcome to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Justice Hagedorn.
October is National First Responders Month and we would like to recognize the brave men and women from across our state that are working on the front lines to save lives and protect communities.
If you know someone who you believe is deserving of this award, please reach out to my office for more details. Nominations must be submitted by Friday, September 6th, 2019. A winner from within our assembly district will then be selected in September and he or she will be invited to a Hometown Heroes recognition in the Assembly this October.
The person nominated by your municipality could be a police officer or sheriff’s deputy, a firefighter, or any level of EMS provider (paramedic, EMT, first responder), and can be either a paid or volunteer public servant.
DNR Update
Visitors to the Wisconsin State Park System are being asked to vote in the 2019 Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Gold Seal Awards contest. The Friends of Wisconsin State Parks runs the Gold Seal Award program each year to highlight Wisconsin's parks, trails, and forests. The contest ends on Friday, August 30th.
DNR is partnering with organizations across the state to host Learn to Hunt events. Learn to Hunt combines classroom and field instruction for beginners before pairing participants with an experienced hunter. Participants will learn hunting rules and regulations, sportsmanship and ethical hunter behavior, and basic gun safety.
