SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
April 29, 2016
Sullivan’s
Salvos 5/3/16
In this edition:
*Happy Mother’s Day!
*Endorsements
*Medical Examiner
*Democratic Party Hall of Fame
*Did You Know?
*Happy Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8. I know that this is a difficult day
for many people, and I want to respect that. Yet I feel the need to talk about
a special person in my life.
I want to wish a particularly Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom, Susan
Sullivan Smith, and my wife, Melissa Fath. One is a birth mom, one is an
adoptive mom – both are amazing people who have touched many lives.
I
sometimes wish people could actually see how amazing Melissa is. We’ve had over
40 foster children over the years, and she has never missed a beat once.
Melissa has done all that parenting, while at the same time doing full time
cancer research. She is truly incredible!
Last
year at this time, I was afraid I might lose her. Melissa was fighting cancer,
and we did not know exactly what to expect. Thank God things went well, and
this Mom-of-all-Moms is still with us today!
I hope all the moms out there have a wonderful day! You deserve
it! Thanks for all you do!
*Endorsements
As
you may know, I am running for reelection to the Board of Supervisors. One of
the things candidates do is seek endorsements. It is an old advertising
technique, and a fairly transparent one at that. But the technique survives
because it works!
Endorsements
provide an extra level of information for voters. They serve to connect the
dots for voters who do not know candidates personally. They give voters an idea
what candidates are all about.
The
organizational endorsements I have thus far include: Iowa City Federation of
Labor, CR and IC Building Trades, Teamsters, Laborers, Carpenters, SEIU,
AFSCME, AFGE, and IBEW.
It
is hard for me to imagine endorsements that could mean more. Groups of average
working folks who come together for the common good… how could a candidate wish
for anything better? I am extremely proud of these endorsements!
*Medical Examiner
The
Board recently received the annual report from the Johnson County Medical
Examiner’s Office (JCME), and it contains some very interesting information.
First,
some background: Counties are responsible for providing the Medical Examiner’s services.
(In some states, they are called Coroners.) The job of these offices is to
determine a scientifically based cause of death for every death in the
jurisdiction. Some of these deaths are deemed to be “in the public interest”,
and therefore require a higher level of scrutiny.
“Deaths in the public interest” include accidents, homicides,
suicides, deaths that occur in facilities, and deaths where no physician was
present. The “public interest” can mean many things, but the primary goals are
to ensure that we know exactly what happened. Then insurance, law enforcement,
etc. can react accordingly.
According
to Iowa law, the jurisdiction where the death occurs is responsible for the
investigation. This is where things get interesting for Johnson County! Because
of the presence of UIHC, the VA, Mercy, and two interstate highways, Johnson
County investigates an inordinate number of deaths. Many people, regardless of
where they lived, drew their final breath in Johnson County. That makes their
case a Johnson County responsibility.
Because
of this, Johnson County investigates the same number of deaths as Polk County,
and far more than any other Iowa jurisdiction. In 2015, there were 1,705 deaths
in Johnson County. The JCME reviewed 700 of those, or 41%. Of those, 334 were
declined. 366 were accepted as “deaths in the public interest”.
143
of the 366 were Johnson County residents; 181 were residents of other Iowa
counties; 26 were out of state; and 16 were Department of Corrections.
171
of the 366 accepted cases were accidents; 150 were natural causes; 33 were
suicides; 5 homicides; and 7 undetermined.
The
number one cause of death is falling. This is particularly true for senior
citizens, but also affects younger people.
Johnson
County has one of the best teams in the whole country, and that is not
hyperbole! All our investigators are certified by the American Board of Medicolegal
Death Investigators, a standard achieved by very few jurisdictions. In
addition, we are one of the rare jurisdictions with a Board Certified Forensic
Pathologist… and we have two! Doctor Dennis Firschau is certified in
Anatomical, Clinical, and Forensic Pathology by the American Board of
Pathology. Doctor Marcus Nashelsky holds the same credentials; in addition, he
is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association
of Medical Examiners, and he was the 2015 President of the association.
Perhaps
most importantly, ME Administrator Mike Hensch is an acknowledged national
leader in ME services, particularly in the area of organ and tissue donation.
I
hope you and your family do not require the services of the JCME. But if you
do, rest assured that you are dealing with the very top professionals in the
field. I am so very proud of the JCME!
*Democratic Party Hall of Fame
Save
the date! The Johnson County Democratic Party is holding our Annual Hall of
Fame Awards event on Saturday, May 7 at 7pm at Brown Deer Country Club in
Coralville.
Please
join us for coffee, desserts, and plenty of old war stories! A cash bar will be
available. Parking is free.
The
Hall of Fame inductees for 2016 are: Pauline Taylor, Beverly and Dog Jones, and
Eileen and Peter Fisher. We hope you can join us in recognizing this remarkable
group!
Tickets
are available for a $25 suggested donation. People who cannot afford that
amount should still feel welcome, but please call 354-7199 so we can get a
count.
Sponsorships are available
at the following levels:
$100 includes
two tickets
$250 includes
4 tickets
$500 includes
a whole table (8 tickets)
Checks can be mailed to:
Johnson County Democrats
PO Box 1773
Iowa City, IA 52244
If
you have any questions, please contact Rod Sullivan at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. We hope you will join us for a fun evening, and
lend your voice to those who are honoring these very deserving people. We look
forward to seeing you!
*DID YOU KNOW?
Most deaths are reported on Mondays. This is likely due to people
failing to show up at work or school, and family/friends/coworkers checking up
on them.
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
"Sullivan’s
Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a
brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages
come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the
whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise
mentioned.
If you do NOT
want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type
"unsubscribe" in the subject line.
If you know
anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail
me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
As always,
feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to
serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 7:56 PM
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