The Faribault woman convicted of stealing from SAFE Sanctuary, a dog rescue organization she founded, was sentenced Wednesday in Rice County court. 56 year old Patricia Caron pled guilty early this year to 2 counts of theft by swindle. An investigation by several agencies, showed that Caron was using the funds from the rescue organization for personal use including shopping sprees, restaurants and more. Judge Gerald Wolf sentenced her to 5 years supervised probation and ordered she pay restitution to Faribault Veterinary Clinic, Legal For Good and Kathleen Walsh for a total of $36,600. Patricia Caron Complaint
Council discusses City ID costs/fees
Northfield’s City ID has a design and prospective fees for the cards. City Administrator Ben Martig said the cards are good for 4 years. Staff recommends a fee of $15 for adults, $10 for 16 years of age and under and a renewal fee of $5. Library and IT Director, Theresa Jensen, explained how she came up with those numbers, “what I did was look at what other cities municipal ID cards cost and what their range was and then we targeted our card to the lower end fo what those charges were”. Mayor Pownell asked about making the fee just $10 for all ages. Zweifel was in favor of that. Peterson White said she’d be fine with either $15 or $10 for all ages. Colby looked up the cost of State ID cards which are $19.25. He said, “we’re in the ballpark at $15 a piece, so I’ll vote for the proposal”. Cost to the City right now to produce 2,000 cards will be about $5,000. That does not include staff time. Volunteers will be providing Spanish interpretation. DeLong was concerned that all languages have the opportunity. Chief Nelson has access to interpreters. The card design is on the City’s website along with businesses who are offering local discounts. The ID will double as a library card if you want. This will come back to Council next week for a formal vote.
Empowering staff to support patients
“Do the Next Right Thing”, Northfield Hospital and Clinics President and CEO, Steve Underdahl, talking about a program they implemented wherein, employees are able to offer support to patients in ways that policies can’t. NH&C celebrated four individuals last week. In one instance, a woman with a high risk pregnancy was going to miss her appointment with a specialist because she didn’t have a ride. The nurse then decided to go get her! Another situation involved the computer. It’s often used now for home healthcare. A patient just couldn’t understand how to make it work, so, the employee went to the patient and set it up for him. Underdahl said one of the Nutrition Services staff members makes handmade cards for all of the people at the Long Term Care facility during the holidays. Another staff person arranged for Thanksgiving Dinner to be brought to a patient that had no one. Underdahl added that these types of care can’t be put into a job description, adding, “it’s the kind of thing that wonderful people do because they identified the opportunity”. The Exceptional Service Award honorees for 2017 are Monica Brockton, Mellissa Buchta, Laura Daily and Asha Oudhraj. They celebrated with their families, colleagues and NH+C leaders at the March 13 banquet.
Pictured here (l. to r.): Charlie Mandile, NH+C Board Chair; Mellissa Buchta; Laura Daily; Steve Underdahl, NH+C CEO; Monica Brockton; and Asha Oudhraj.
* Monica Brockton puts beautiful handmade cards at each place when she sets Long Term Care Center dining tables on Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Her personal touch enriches everyday actions.
* Mellissa Buchta in the Women’s Health Center gave a ride to two OB patients who would otherwise miss their appointments. The little extra help made a big difference for these patients.
* Laura Daily made a house call to set up a MyHealth Info account for an older patient uncomfortable with his computer. She meets patients at their level, and their pace.
* Asha Oudhraj arranged for Thanksgiving dinner to be delivered to a patient home alone for the holiday. She offered help, then figured out how to make it work.
FAN buses for Raider Hoops!
There will be fan buses heading to the state championship game Saturday between our very own Northfield Raiders girls basketball team and Robinsdale Cooper HS! FOUR buses will be ready to take fans to Target Center, and buses will load First-come-first-serve at the main entrance to NHS. The opportunity is available to students, parents, and community members as well. Buses will DEPART at 4:15 p.m. for the 6:00 p.m. game. Bus fare is $5 and game tickets are $9 (students) and $14 (adults). Buses will LEAVE the arena for home 15 minutes after the conclusion of the awards ceremony that follows the game. Go Raiders! NOTE: THE TEAM’S BUS LEAVES AT 3:45 FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL. THE PUBLIC IS ENCOURAGED TO COME OUT AND GIVE THEM A BIG SEND OFF!
St. Patrick’s Day enforcement
St. Patrick’s Day is one of America’s most widely celebrated holidays, for the Irish and non-Irish alike. For that reason, Rice County law enforcement will be out in full force to make sure all drivers are sober. Sheriff Troy Dunn reminds everyone that Rice County provides a safe & sober ride home in partnership with First Choice Shuttle for just $6
