Northfield Hospital + Clinics is offering both advice and resources for local families who have been affected by the ongoing
shortage of baby formula across the country.
As the problem continues, parents of infants are becoming more and more nervous about their ability to feed their baby properly and are looking for alternative solutions. The Food and Drug Administration is advising parents not to make or feed homemade formula to infants, as those recipes have not been evaluated by the FDA and may lack nutrients vital to an infant’s growth.
Pediatrician Ben Flannery said in a statement issued by NH+C that the child’s doctor can help to identify a formula that is nutritionally similar to what a baby has been consuming.
“If you still can’t find formula, call your pediatrician,” he said. “We can discuss possible alternatives to get your baby the nutrition they need.”
NH+C does not have baby formula samples or a stockpile of infant formula available to patients.
“But,” said Flannery, “we can help advise on alternative formulas or other strategies to maintain your child’s nutrition.”
Formula manufacturer Enfamil is offering a store locator on its website which can be quite helpful, but the Minnesota Department of Health is asking parents to not buy more than what is needed, and not hoard formula.
For more information, visit the Enfamil website, or the Minnesota Department of Health website.
Draheim opposes a special session
State Senator Rich Draheim registered his frustration and disappointment yesterday with the way the legislative session ended on Sunday night. The Democratic controlled House of Representatives and the Republican controlled Senate failed to come to an agreement on how to make best use of the $9.3 billion budget surplus. Draheim laid the blame at the feet of the DFL controlled House, and pointedly, at the feet of Governor Walz, as well.
Like every other member of the legislature, Draheim’s complaints are many. He is frustrated with how the Democrats were negotiating on the last day of the legislative session with so much on the line. At 9pm on Sunday night, he said, the House had only been in session for twelve minutes the entire day. And he said, the Senate did not receive an offer from the house on the Health & Human Services bill that he said was within the agreed upon framework until 10:30pm.
“There were a lot of games being played,” he said.
The HHS bill might have been agreed upon, said Draheim, had it not been scuttled by the Democrats. Draheim has posted a video to his social media pages showing an exchange between the House and Senate HHS Chairmen, that reveals Governor Walz had pulled his support of the bill due to a provision that would have not required election judges to be fully vaccinated from Covid-19 and another over the so-called “Zuckerbucks” measure precluding social media moguls from making campaign contributions.
Even though there is nothing to show for the work, by all accounts, agreements were very close on most issues when time ran out on the session. Despite saying for weeks that he would not call a special session of the legislature to finish the work, Walz did meet with the House and Senate leadership yesterday hoping to get an agreement for a short session. The Republicans have been staunchly opposed to the idea, and Draheim concurs with the members of his party.
“All three – the House, the Senate and the Governor’s office – have all said publicly that they didn’t want a special session. It’s not a budget year. Maybe the best thing is to wait until next year. I don’t think we need to come back.”
There is no word yet on the results of the Governor’s meeting.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Senator Rich Draheim can be heard here
Elliott addresses anticipated rise in summer crime
Memorial Day is Monday, which will mark the unofficial start of summer. Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott is cautioning residents that with the arrival of summer, also comes an increase in home invasions.
Elliott said, quite often break-ins or thefts are what he called “Crimes of Opportunity.” Often in the summer, people get busy and distracted and might forget to lock the doors of their house before they go to bed. Or bicycles and other valuable pieces of property are left out overnight. Situations like this are an open invitation to someone with ill-intent.
“Just try to pay a little more attention,” he said. “Lock your doors, secure your belongings, and just keep a lookout for suspicious behavior.”
Another issue that has become an ongoing problem, said Elliott, is the rash in catalytic converter thefts. The rise in the price of precious metals over the past two decades has made the devices, which convert environmentally harmful discharge from a vehicle into less harmful chemicals, a desirable product in different areas. Convertor thefts have been on the rise in recent years, and Elliott said there have been plenty of thefts in the Northfield area. Elliott is again asking people to be watchful for things that might seem strange or out of the ordinary, and if they do see something out of the ordinary, to please give the police a call.
“So, we’re justice asking folks if they see someone suspicious, they don’t really belong there, or maybe they haven’t seen them before. Maybe they’re hanging out be a vehicle, for an extended period of time, or maybe they are underneath a vehicle, those types of things. Please give us a cll. You know, maybe someone’s doing a quick repair on their car, but we would much rather come and check it out and find out that that’s what was happening.”
Elliott said there was talk at the legislature this session about cracking down on catalytic convertor thefts and tightening up some of the precious metal markets, however with no public safety bill due to a lack of agreement between legislators, the problem is likely to persist.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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