Rural Health Program Update, 2014

Rural Health works with key partners to explore and fund innovative means of delivering rural health services.

Transit Assistance Program for Iowa, 1975

This inventory of transit services in Iowa covers urban transit, intercity passenger bus carriers and charter operators, taxicab operations, rural transit services and special services, and includes the results of questionnaire and interview surveys, and the resulting recommendations. The recommendations urge a centralized source of data and expertise, a public information program, the utilization of federal aid, the continuance of existing transit services with no dimunition of service level, the establishment of new services in communities of over 20,000 population, the sponsorship of demonstrations in communities with populations of 10,000 to 20,000, and the development and improvement of rural transit service. Based on state and local community experience, recommendations are made concerning revenue sources to support transit in Iowa, and four alternative state transit assistance programs are presented.

Iowa Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative (PRI) Rural Service Delivery Model Iowa Department of Correctional Services, November 2009

The Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Department of Human Rights, Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) entered into a contract for services from September 12, 2007 to June 30, 2009 for the purposes of assisting in the evaluation component for the two-year Iowa Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative (PRI) Rural Service Delivery Model. This contract was extended to November 2009. The Rural PRI grant period ran from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009 and was extended to November 30, 2009. The purpose of the program was to improve community safety by providing pre-release services and successful transition planning and aftercare services to offenders released from state institutions to the Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. Participants included all offenders released to the Second Judicial District during the grant period.

Audit report on the County Rural Offices of Social Services Mental Health Region (CROSS) for the year ended June 30, 2015

Audit report on the County Rural Offices of Social Services Mental Health Region (CROSS) for the year ended June 30, 2015

Iowa's Rural Alzheimer's Demonstration Project, July 1, 2004 - June 31, 2007

The Iowa Department of Elder Affairs, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs (IDEA) and the University of Iowa College of Nursing (UI CON), has been engaged in developing and evaluating community based services for persons with dementia in the state of Iowa over the past 7 years under two grants form the Administration on Aging. In the current grant period, the involved agencies have completed a collaborative effort aimed to increase the capacity of Adult Day Health and Respite (ADR) providers in serving persons with dementia. Adult day services and respite care were identified by participants in the initial grant through various processes and service providers as important components of caring for persons with dementia and that there was a gap of these services in the state. Therefore, adult day and respite services were chosen as a target for the second AoA grant. The focus, in particular, was to enhance capacity to care for persons with later stages of the disease and those in rural settings as well as to begin to develop services that are more responsive to emerging minority populations. The process of the grant provided the state with a rich amount of information about the status of Iowa’s Adult Day Service providers in general and in regard to provision of dementia specific services, as well as valuable insights into the capability of rural communities to serve persons with dementia and their caregivers at home. Final Performance Report

Rural Library Funding, 2007

Rural library funding by county (.pdf) including per capita and by valuation, for FY07.

Rural Library Funding, 2009

Rural library funding by county (.pdf) including per capita and by valuation, for FY08.

Rural Library Funding, 2008

Rural library funding by county (.pdf) including per capita and by valuation, for FY08.

Rural Library Funding, 2008

Rural library funding by county (.pdf) including per capita and by valuation, for FY08.

Rural Library Funding, 2009

Rural library funding by county (.pdf) including per capita and by valuation, for FY08.

Evaluation Findings: Rural Reentry Program Works, Data Download, Iowa Department of Corrections, April 2010

Iowa’s Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) recently completed an evaluation of the 2nd Judicial District’s Rural Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI), which provided reentry services to offenders both while in prison and after release.

Construction and Maintenance Practices to Minimize the Potential Liability of Counties for Roads in Rural Subdivisions, HR-221, 1981

In an earlier research project, HR-204, the magnitude and nature of highway related tort claims against counties in Iowa were investigated. However, virtually all of the claims identified in that research resulted from incidents that occurred in areas with predominantly agricultural land use. With recent increases in the rural non-farm population, many traditionally urban problems are also appearing in built-up areas under county jurisdiction. This trend is expected to continue so that counties must anticipate a change in the nature of the tort claims they will encounter. Problems that heretofore have been unique to cities may become commonplace in areas for which counties are responsible. The research reported here has been directed toward an investigation of those problems in rural subdivisions that lead to claims growing out of the provision of highway services by counties. Lacking a sufficient database among counties for the types of tort claims of interest in this research, a survey was sent to 259 cities in Iowa in order to identify highway related problems leading to those claims. The survey covered claims during a five year period from 1975 to 1980. Over one-third of the claims reported were based on alleged street defects. Another 34 percent of the claims contained allegations of damages due to backup of sanitary sewers or defects in sidewalks. By expanding the sample from the 164 cities that responded to the survey, it was estimated that a total of $49,000,000 in claims had been submitted to all 259 cities. Over 34% of this amount resulted from alleged defects in the use of traffic signs, signals, and markings. Another 42% arose from claims of defects in streets and sidewalks. Payments in settlement of claims were about 13.4% of the amount asked for those claims closed during the period covered by the survey. About $9,000,000 in claims was pending on June 30, 1980 according to the information furnished. Officials from 23 cities were interviewed to provide information on measures to overcome the problems leading to tort claims. On the basis of this information, actions have been proposed that can be undertaken by counties to reduce the potential for highway-related claims resulting from their responsibilities in rural subdivisions and unincorporated communities. Suggested actions include the eight recommendations contained in the final report for the previous research under HR-204. In addition, six recommendations resulted from this research, as follows: 1. Counties should adopt county subdivision ordinances. 2. A reasonable policy concerning sidewalks should be adopted. 3. Counties should establish and implement a system for setting road maintenance priorities. 4. Counties should establish and implement a procedure for controlling construction or maintenance activities within the highway right of way. 5. Counties should establish and implement a system to record complaints that are received relating to highway maintenance and to assure timely correction of defective conditions leading to such complaints. 6. Counties should establish and implement a procedure to ensure timely advice of highway defects for which notice is not otherwise received.

Managing Decisions Regarding Rural Expressway Routes and Associated Highway Bypasses, 2009

For several years, the Iowa Department of Transportation has constructed bypasses along rural highways. Most bypasses were constructed on the state’s Commercial Industrial Network (CIN). Now that work on the CIN has been completed and the system is open to traffic, it is possible to study the impacts of bypasses. In the past, construction of highway bypasses has led community residents and business people to raise concerns about the loss of business activity. For policy development purposes, it is essential to understand the impacts that a bypass might have on safety, the community, and economics. By researching these impacts, policies can be produced to help to alleviate any negative impacts and create a better system that is ultimately more cost-effective. This study found that the use of trade area analysis does not provide proof that a bypass can positively or negatively impact the economy of a rural community. The analysis did show that, even though the population of a community may be stable for several years and per capita income is increasing, sales leakage still occurs. The literature, site visits, and data make it is apparent that a bypass can positively affect a community. Some conditions that would need to exist in order to maximize a positive impact include the installation of signage along the bypass directing travelers to businesses and services in the community, community or regional plans that include the bypass in future land development scenarios, and businesses adjusting their business plans to attract bypass users. In addition, how proactive a community is in adapting to the bypass will determine the kinds of effects felt in the community. Results of statistical safety analysis indicate that, at least when crashes are separated by severity, bypasses with at-grade accesses appear to perform more poorly than either the bypasses with fully separated accesses or with a mix of at-grade and fully separated accesses. However, the benefit in terms of improved safety of bypasses with fully separated accesses relative to bypasses with a mixed type of accesses is not statistically conclusive.

Guidelines for Perinatal Services, Eight Edition, 2008

This document represents the Eighth Edition of what formerly was called Standards for Perinatal Centers. Since then, the name has changed to Guidelines for Perinatal Services, because use of the term “standards” connotes an inflexibility of application that is not intended. As noted in the preface to an earlier edition, so-called standards that apply to major urban areas are not always practical in rural America. Unfortunately, when a bad outcome occurs and litigation ensues, the differences between urban and rural are frequently ignored. These guidelines are not meant to hold Iowa hospitals and Iowa perinatal professionals to an impractical ideal.