Community Notes: Celebrating the past, building the future

By Dawnett Willis, Chief Executive Officer, Floyd County Medical Center

This year, 2025, is a special year for Floyd County Medical Center, and these first few months have proven that sentiment already.

On Feb. 10, 1965, Floyd County Memorial Hospital officially opened its doors at its new  –  and still current  –  location south of Charles City. For the last 60 years, our team members have delivered exceptional, personalized health care with compassion to our neighbors, friends and family.

Today, we  –  as Floyd County Medical Center  –  continue that legacy with our more than 275 team members who provide extraordinary care to every patient, every time.

To celebrate our 60th anniversary, we hosted our first-ever black-tie gala on Feb. 21 at the Floyd County Fairgrounds. More than 200 community members attended the gala, made possible by the enthusiastic support of more than 30 local businesses and individuals as corporate sponsors, prize donors and vendors.

Together, we raised more than $40,000, which is an incredible achievement and demonstration of how amazing our community is. We will steward these funds with immense care to ensure that high-quality health care remains in our area for generations to come.

These funds will be used for future projects, as the current clinic and hospital expansion project underway is fully funded.

Speaking of which, the expansion is progressing well into its second year, with approximately 30% of construction completed as of early April. We are still on schedule to debut our new facility in the spring of 2026, and we cannot wait to care for patients in this contemporary health care environment.

Highlights of the project include a new three-story clinic, a new pharmacy, expansion to our laboratory and increased patient parking.

To celebrate the steady progress of our expansion, we hosted a beam signing ceremony on our back patio on March 18. A beam signing is a common tradition in the construction industry when staff, residents and other important individuals sign one of the beams that will eventually go into the structure of a new facility.

Because we all play a role in the future of our local health care, we invited the community to join us by adding their names to the beam, as well. Approximately 300 names of team members and community members are now forever enshrined into the very structure of our new facility!

This beam, now filled with a vast mosaic of names and signatures, will be exposed in one of the new stairwells for all to see.

March proved to be an exciting month for FCMC, as we also hosted a high-profile guest on March 20. Sen. Chuck Grassley stopped by FCMC as part of his 99-County Tour. He visited the emergency department, radiology, cardiology, med/surg and the birth center and learned about the expansion.

Afterwards, Sen. Grassley conducted a Q&A panel with approximately 20 FCMC team members to discuss the opportunities and challenges of serving in a critical access hospital and rural health clinic. To make Sen. Grassley’s visit even more memorable, he added his signature to the beam.

FCMC extends its gratitude to Sen. Grassley and his team for taking the time to visit the hospital and hear directly from staff about the needs affecting rural health care today.

FCMC has also gained two new providers so far in 2025.

Joelle Zeien, ARNP, joined our organization in February and is available to see patients in the rural health clinic and urgent care.

Dr. Suzie Greenman is a visiting provider and also started in February. She has committed to seeing patients one week per month and shares in the family medicine/obstetrics rotations.

In April, we plan to recognize our hospital’s third recipient of the prestigious Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses. We brought this program to FCMC last year and celebrated our first two honorees: Darlene Nierling, RN, and Jennifer Erikson, RN.

FCMC nurses are nominated for the Daisy Award by patients and visitors who feel that a nurse went above and beyond in their duties to demonstrate selfless, remarkable care.

Every year, we receive heartfelt and wonderful stories that celebrate the incredible service and care of our exceptional nurses. We eagerly look forward to bestowing FCMC’s third recipient the honor of receiving the Daisy Award soon.

Moreover, we continue to grow and expand the services that we offer to the community.

As of late March, our new visiting orthopedics team, led by Dr. Jeffrey Clark and Brenda Cooper, ARNP, have performed nearly 30 surgeries, enabling patients to return to the active lifestyles they want.

The new pain management clinic with anesthesia provider April Cook, DNAP, CRNA, NSPM-C, is offering relief and hope to those who struggle with chronic pain.

Also, the new suboxone clinic  –  a partnership among FCMC, Floyd County and Mason City Clinic  –  has begun to help locals who desire to reduce dependency on opioids.

All the while, we continue to deliver quality core services such as full-service radiology; lab; inpatient hospital care including swing-bed, surgical services, therapies, emergency care, birth center; and the rural health clinic.

As you can see, FCMC is flourishing with excitement and activity. We are well into the first quarter of 2025, and the year has already been full of milestones and memorable moments.

We look forward to seeing what the rest of this year holds in store as we continue to care for the health care needs of our communities  –  every patient, every time.