Gazette Daily News Podcast, May 24
This Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, May 24.
Enjoying the sunny and dry weather so far this week? Well there's no sign of it stopping any time soon. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 84 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. On Wednesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 51 degrees.
The next head of the University of Iowa’s sprawling health care enterprise and medical college will be retired U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Denise J. Jamieson, who accumulated decades of leadership and health care experience with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at Emory University.
Jamieson, 58, will start Aug. 1 as UIHC vice president for medical affairs and dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine.
She’ll make an annual salary of $1.3 million, according to an offer letter saying her “experience and skill set are an excellent match for the position, and that your direction, guidance, and leadership will enhance education, research, and clinical care at Iowa.”
Jamieson will report to both UI President Barbara Wilson and Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel. She’ll oversee and maintain an “integrated strategic plan” for all of UI Health Care — including the Carver College of Medicine, the UI Physicians faculty practice plan and the UI Hospitals and Clinics, which reported a net position of $2.3 billion in fiscal 2022.
Jamieson’s hiring comes as UIHC is expanding its Iowa City campus, as well as building a new hospital in North Liberty.
Cedar Rapids firefighters rescued a man from a trench that collapsed while he was repairing utility lines to a local business Tuesday morning. This was the first time the Cedar Rapids Fire Department has performed this kind of rescue, according to a news release from the department.
The fire department was called to the 600 block of First Avenue SW at 9:39 a.m. Tuesday. The private utility contractor was trapped from the waist down in a collapsed work space.
Rescue teams with specialized training used shoring tools to remove the man from the hole, which was between eight and 10 feet deep, while also preventing further collapse. The man was conscious and able to communicate with crews while they worked.
After he was rescued, the man was sent to a hospital with “unknown injuries to his lower extremities,” according to the release.
After the firefighters cleared the site and removed their equipment, Cedar Rapids sewer employees were dispatched and used digging equipment to remove soil from the edge of the trench, to prevent further collapse.
Cedar Rapids rescue teams have trained annually on this type of rescue scenario since 1996, but this is the first situation within the city of Cedar Rapids that has required this specialized response, according to the release.
