Dexter Archives - Missourinet

Flood watch issued for much of southeast Missouri; Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff in watch area (AUDIO)

October 28, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Most of southeast Missouri will be under a flood watch from 7 o’clock tonight until 10 Thursday morning. National Weather Service (NWS) Paducah meteorologist Sean Poulos tells Missourinet that Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Dexter are in the watch area.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Paducah has issued a flood watch for southeast Missouri from 7 p.m. on Wednesday until 10 a.m. on Thursday (October 28, 2020 map courtesy of NWS Paducah Twitter page)

“We’re anticipating rain moving up into those areas here later this afternoon and continuing pretty heavy this evening into the overnight hours, and then gradually trying to lessen in intensity as we get through the day tomorrow,” Poulos says.

New Madrid and Doniphan are also included in the flood watch area.

The NWS warns southeast Missouri could see three to four inches of additional rain, with the ground already saturated. Flooding is likely in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

“We’re concerned with flooding, especially in areas that get over three inches,” says Poulos. “In southeast Missouri we have a lot of low-lying, hilly terrain out there.”

The NWS is urging motorists who are traveling in southeast Missouri tonight and overnight to be careful, noting flooded roadways are hard to see in the dark.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with National Weather Service (NWS) Paducah meteorologist Sean Poulos, which was recorded on October 28, 2020:

Legislative panel approves a planned $25 million hospital in southeast Missouri (Update)

September 15, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

New hospital site plan from certificate of need proposal

A proposed new hospital project in Kennett cleared a major hurdle Monday in Jefferson City. The Missouri Facilities Review Committee approved a certificate of need application on the proposed 49-bed acute care full-service hospital by Mainstreet HealthVentures.

Mainstreet HealthVentures consultant Kerry Noble told Missourinet affiliate KBOA that the construction could set an example.

“I think it will be a showplace for smaller rural hospitals who are trying to work out of old, antiquated, outdated facilities to use as a model,” Noble said.

The Georgia-based company submitted a 62-page certificate of need application for the project. They plan to demolish the former Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center, which closed in 2018.

The hospital will open on May 1, 2022, according to the plan. It will be about 70,000 square feet. There would be 37 adult acute beds, six pediatric acute beds, and six intensive care unit beds.

Plans also call for a 24-hour emergency room with seven beds and an urgent care clinic for non-emergency patients. The new hospital will also include a four-room inpatient/outpatient surgical suite, with a surgical recovery unit. It also will have a 24-hour clinical lab and 24-hour medical imaging, including CT and MRI.

State lawmakers from across southeast Missouri have written letters supporting the planned new hospital. State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter, the House Special Committee on Aging’s vice chairman, notes Kennett has a large elderly population.

“That hospital (Twin Rivers) was the only hospital that was actually in Dunklin County. The other closest places are Paragould, Arkansas or Piggott, Arkansas, which is an 18-bed facility I believe,” Morse says.

Kennett residents now have to drive to Arkansas, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston or Poplar Bluff for emergency room care and for hospitalization. Supporters of the new hospital say it will help about 70,000 residents across southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas.

Representative Morse, whose wife graduated from Kennett High School, tells Missourinet that Dunklin County must have a functioning hospital. He says Paragould, Jonesboro, Hayti and and Poplar Bluff are too far from Kennett, in an emergency.

“Jonesboro is almost 50 miles from Kennett. And so, it’s just difficult, and I think there would be lives lost in just not having the hospital that close,” says Morse.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, and State Reps. Andrew McDaniel, R-Deering and Dale Wright, R-Farmington, have also written letters in support of the new hospital plan.

Kennett is located in the Bootheel, the state’s poorest region. There have been five hospital closings in southeast Missouri since 2014, including Kennett.

Noble, also a former chief executive officer at the Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti, said building a brand-new facility is best for safety code requirements.

Kennett Mayor Chancellor Wayne also backs the new hospital plan, describing it as a big step forward for health care in Kennett and southeast Missouri.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full four-minute interview with State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter, about the planned $25 million hospital project in southeast Missouri’s Kennett on August 12, 2020:

Southeast Missouri lawmaker emphasizes importance of rural Missouri physicians (AUDIO)

August 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

While Missouri has a severe shortage of rural physicians, one southeast Missouri state lawmaker says his area also needs more doctors who live there.

State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter, speaks on the Missouri House floor on March 3, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter, says that when he moved to Stoddard County in the mid-1970s, there were 15 to 20 doctors who lived in the county.

“Right now, there’s one fella and he’s on the verge of retirement who actually lives full-time in Stoddard County. Everyone else comes in from somewhere else for the day, and goes back home,” Morse says.

Morse says the other doctors drive back to Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff or Sikeston.

He says the 15-20 doctors who lived in Stoddard County years ago “were part of the community, they were school board members or whatever, civic club members.”

Stoddard County is a large county, geographically. It has about 830 square miles. Advance, Bernie and Bloomfield are some of the other towns in the county.

The UM System is working to train more doctors, dentists and pharmacists in the state. The majority of Missouri counties don’t have enough doctors.

The MU School of Medicine says the bond between doctor and community “is important, but increasingly rare in small towns across Missouri.” The School of Medicine says while 37 percent of Missourians live in rural communities, only 18 percent of Missouri doctors practice there, adding that the crisis will worsen in rural Missouri as baby boomers age and need more care.

MU’s School of Medicine held its first annual clinical rural immersion program in June, providing 25 health care students with real-world experience in rural Missouri. They spent two weeks studying rural medicine in Sedalia. The program was conducted virtually, with modified in-person visits.

The project was funded by a grant. MU has a rural track pipeline program. The School of Medicine says the research shows that the more exposure medical students have with a rural practice, the more likely they are to return to a rural Missouri practice.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter. Representative Morse is the Missouri House Special Committee on Aging’s vice chairman. The interview was conducted on August 12, 2020:

Nestle Purina investing $115 million in southeast Missouri plant; 30 new jobs coming

September 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

One of the largest employers in southeast Missouri’s Bloomfield received a visit Tuesday from the governor, highlighting a major multi-million dollar expansion.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson signs legislation on July 10, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s office)

Governor Mike Parson traveled to Bloomfield to tour a Nestle Purina plant that’s undergoing a $115 million investment.

Nestle is the world’s largest food and beverage company.

Nestle’s Bloomfield plant employs about 340 Missourians. State Department of Economic Development (DED) Director Rob Dixon tells Missourinet the expansion is creating about 30 new jobs.

Dixon expects hiring to be complete by mid-2020.

The plant makes Tidy Cats brand cat litter, and the company says the expansion allows Purina to meet the growing demand from cat owners.

DED says the expansion is adding a 110,000 square foot processing and packaging facility.

State Rep. Herman Morse, R-Dexter, who represents Bloomfield in the Missouri House, has said the addition of “more high-quality jobs at Purina will be invaluable to the economy of Stoddard County and the surrounding area as it provides more opportunity for our local residents.”

Bloomfield, which is a town of about 1,900 residents, is located in Stoddard County. It’s north of Dexter.

Governor Parson says Purina has been in Missouri for 125 years and is committed to the Show-Me State.

The governor met with Nestle CEO Mark Schneider in Switzerland in June, during his first European trade mission. Parson says Nestle employs more than 3,500 Missourians in Bloomfield, Chesterfield, Earth City, Gray Summit, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Trenton.