By Rich Larson, News Director
Northfield Hospital and Clinics has launched a program to offer information about vaccines and vaccinations to those who are still deciding whether
or not to be vaccinated.
A series of videos called NH+C in Conversation about Vaccination, offers testimonials from health care workers and hospital staff members about their experiences with, and thoughts about, the Covid-19 vaccines. The videos, which are generally about two minutes long, are being posted to the news page on the NH+C website.
The hospital has also published a Question-and-Answer article with pediatrician DR. Ben Flannery, who goes over the concerns many parents might have when deciding to have their children vaccinated.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 2.5 million Minnesotans are fully vaccinated, while more than 2.8 million have received at least one dose. Last week during the City Council Meeting, Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott reported that 70% of all citizens in Rice County over the age of 50 have received at least on dose of the vaccine and 96.6% of those 65 and older have been vaccinated. However, the vaccination numbers have slowed down this month. MDH is reporting that so far, less than half the number of those receiving vaccinations in April have been vaccinated in May.
Northfield Hospital + Clinics is currently offering vaccination appointments to anyone ages 12 and older. For an appointment call 507-646-8019.
The NH+C in Conversation about Vaccination series can be found by clicking here
Community Crime Calendar developed by Northfield Police Department
The Northfield police department has made another tool available to help keep members of the community informed about crime in Northfield.
The department has partnered with Lexis Nexis, a company that deals in analytics and legal research to create a Community Crime Map. Visitors can go to the map and see when, where and what types of crimes have been committed in the community.
The map offers several different options. If a person is searching for a specific type of crime, a list on the left of the map offers them the ability to click on the kinds of crime they want to learn about. Another feature allows users to select a timeframe, ranging from years to one specific day.
Still another feature will allow the user to have alerts emailed to them. Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott said people can type in their address and a distance range and be told about the crime happening in their neighborhood a daily or weekly basis.
Chief Elliott said that the tool was put in place because the Northfield Police believe an informed community is a safer community. However, users will only find public information on the map.
“There’s very limited information, just limited public information on there. [For example, with addresses, it will say] ‘the 500 block of Division Street there was a theft reported.’ People’s private information is not put on there. This is all what the State of Minnesota deems as public information.”
The Community Crime Map can be found in the Police Department section of the Northfield City Website.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott can be heard here
Lippert says legislators ‘motivated’ to finish budget deal
While the state legislative leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives came to agreement on the overall budget numbers last week, the
business of working out the details within those areas is falling to conference committees. Those committees are expected to submit the numbers in spreadsheet form by Friday, and have a bill worked out and ready to be submitted one week after that.
Representative Todd Lippert said that the amounts allocated to Education and Health and Human Services are things he is very happy with. The education budget, in particular, he said, should help schools try to close the opportunity gaps that have opened up in race and geography.
He also said the conversations within the conference committees are contentious, but that is to be expected. Working out the details of exactly how the money allocated to the budget should be spent is detailed work, and the two sides tend to fight over every single dollar. However, he said, he believes the overall mood is productive, and legislators should have incentive to keep things moving.
“So far from what I can tell as I’m having conversations with my colleagues, it feels like conversations are moving forward. We know we need to get this budget deal done. We want to put a budget in place that’s good for Minnesotans and we want to avoid a government shutdown. So, we’ll have motivation to move this through.”
The state fiscal year ends on June 30th. If a budget is not approved before then, the state would be forced to shut down on July 1st.
Governor Tim Walz is expected to call a special session on June 14th.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Todd Lippert can be heard here
