Visiting an emergency room can be a scary and stressful experience. With the colorless walls and unusual smells, many who need emergency care find themselves waiting hours to be seen, but not anymore. 
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Inside MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center's newly renovated, redesigned and reimagined emergency room, the Fast Track does just what its name says, gets patients in and out fast.

"With our Fast Track, we are really excited to be able to serve the community in this capacity."

Chris Hawkins is the Emergency Services Director at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center. "We really strive to see patients in under 90 minutes and get you in and have your treatment and discharged in that amount of time."

Fast Track is designed for less severe emergencies and when new mom Rikki Myers brought her son into MercyOne's emergency room after a scary fall, she was moved into the Fast Track system. While the nurse was checking her son, she noticed something else, a cough. He tested positive for RSV. 

"They really prepared me because RSV can go from nothing too scary really fast and because I knew he had it, I was prepared to help him get better," Myers said about the team at Fast Track. Because of their quick response to her son's emergency, they also caught his RSV before it got too serious, something this first-time mom is grateful for. 

"They helped me be knowledgeable about what was wrong with my son, even if it wasn't related to what we came in for."

MercyOne's new emergency room and Fast Track is the only one of its kind in the region, designed with patient care and accessibility in mind. 

"Really, the focus was on the community and to be able to get patients who are coming in with lower-level emergencies that were finding they would have to wait longer in the emergency department before it was their turn to be seen," Hawkins said. "So, by doing this it can get them moved through the system a little bit quicker and been seen and treated."

The Fast Track opens at 3 p.m. every afternoon and is located in the ER. The renovations inside the emergency department also include private rooms and valet parking during the week.

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The Center For Siouxland is a home for many Siouxlanders, providing financial help and literacy to people from all walks of life.
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"So our mission is to help people empowering lives and building futures through providing self-sufficiency," said Executive Director, Jonette Spurlock. "Helping people provide financial stability, and that doesn't always mean giving them cash to help them that means giving them the tools to do it themselves, being a resource being here if they have questions."

Spurlock says they help people from all across Siouxland, and often, see them come back to utilize various services, or just to say hello. "We'd like to develop relationships with our clients, we don't want to be a one and done."

One of the biggest programs the Center For Siouxland is known for is the VITA program, or the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which has been around in some form for about 40 years.

"The tax program really saves those households, anywhere between $250 and $400, per year," said Susan McGuire. "So that's money that they get to keep in their pockets."

VITA is completely volunteer-run and the need for the service has grown exponentially. McGuire, who helps oversee the program, said they helped more than 2,000 Siouxlanders last tax season.

"And there is so much more need," McGuire said, "I mean if we could get more volunteers and have, you know, more offices more times available. There are so many more families who could benefit from the service."

Alongside tax services, the Center For Siouxland also helps rebuild or rework finances for those who need a hand, from credit to mortgages and everything in between.

"Finances are a private thing, typically," said Lori Scott, who manages the financial arm of Center For Siouxland.

"People aren't typically just going out and telling all their friends, 'I'm struggling with making my payments'."Everything we do here is confidential," Scott said, "but our goal is just to let people know that we're here to help them and that they don't have to be alone."

She says the first and most important step for anyone in a financial struggle is asking for help.

"Typically, the most difficult part of this process is making the phone call originally, and then once the phone call is made, we get the ball rolling and help get them in as soon as possible," Scott said, "so that we can try to work with them and find a solution to their, their particular situation."

The Center for Siouxland also provides transitional housing with Bridges West, which celebrated 20 years in operation this year.

"We have 22 units of transitional housing for homeless families and individuals, and they can stay in our program for up to two years," McGuire said about Bridges West. "Our goal is to have them move through our program and exit to their own permanent housing within a year."

McGuire says while some at Bridges West are homeless, they come from different backgrounds and struggles. Some fleeing domestic violence or abuse, others have been evicted from their homes, or have just fallen on hard times. Each of them has a goal and a plan to get back on their feet.

"While they're in our program, folks work with our case managers to develop goals to help them with income, employment, education," she explained.

At Center For Siouxland, their mission is to help people navigate the crazy and ever-changing world we live in. Because helping one person, can change the entire course of their life.

To learn more about Center For Siouxland and its programs, visit their website here.

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The Boys and Girls Clubs of Siouxland have been a staple in the community for decades, helping Siouxland youth from all walks of life be the best humans they can be.

"You've actually been here for 53 years now in Siouxland and we have tremendous support within our community," said Kalynn Sortino.

"We're an after-school program," Jen Williams, "and so our mission is to have productive caring, responsible citizens."

Jen Williams is the Director of Operations at the Clubs and has spent many years within the national organization.

"We're not just you know, babysitting," Williams said. "We're an after-school program. We teach the kids different things that they might not get at school, and different life skills and social skills here at the club."

She's seen firsthand the positive impact a non-profit like the Boys and Girls Clubs of Siouxland can have on local kids.

"Some of the kids, when I first started, are graduating high school, going to college. Some of them are currently working for the club, so I get to see how they've gone through school, starting college their first jobs, maybe their first jobs here and they want to give back to the community," Williams said. "So that's just the thing that sticks out the most is just making the relationships with the kids."

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Siouxland offers something for everyone. From homework help to sports, reading and theater, there are activities that every kid can enjoy while building relationships that can last a lifetime.

"I think the biggest thing though is just for them to have a safe place to go after school, where they can truly be a kid." And it isn't just that, the team at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Siouxland are there for whatever the kids need, even if that's just lending an ear.

"If they're having something that they're dealing with at home or personally, and that they want to try to overcome, all of our staff is willing to listen and that is, I think, the best thing that we can provide for any child," said Sortino, the Resource Development Director at the Clubs.

Sortino says that while there is a fee to join, the Club makes sure their services, including after-school transportation, are available to anyone.

"We always have openings for families," Sortino said. "It is $10 to attend our club for the school year. So it's financially possible for any family to participate."

The staff and volunteers at the Club have created a nurturing environment where kids can be kids, each and every day.

To learn more about the Boys and Girls Clubs of Siouxland, visit their website here.

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"I came out of my office just for a break, and I walked out and there were five different conversations happening in this room, in five different languages. And that to me is incredible."

Becky Carlson is the Executive Director of the Mary J. Treglia Community House and her office sits right off of the lobby of the Jennings Street building.

"It's a community house," she said, describing the place the community house has called home for decades. "It's like the place you go when you need something, but also to socialize and to get integrated into your community."

The Mary J. Treglia Community House celebrated 100 years this year, a century of service helping generations of new Americans create a home in Siouxland.

"Sioux City is kind of a small town when you think about it," Carlson said, "like Chicago and different places like that, but we are a big community because we have so many different cultures here." Sioux City is one of the most diverse communities in Iowa and a big reason why is because of the community house. One of their biggest services is English classes, teaching non-native speakers the basics of the language.

"Some of them are non-speaking English at all, zero," said Halima Osman, the ESL instructor at the Community House. "Some can't even say hi."

She teaches basic English, two levels of courses, to Siouxlanders to help them navigate this new city and for many, this new country.

"I focus more on level one where "Hi my name is so and so", "I am from", just the very basics of what your name is, how old are you, what is your birthday."

Osman is also learning right along with her students, too. She says they teach her something new in each class.

The Community House continues to spread the message of the woman who shares their name, Mary J. Treglia dedicated her life to serving Siouxland's immigrant population.

"I mean, I can't imagine going to a foreign place and not really having somebody to go to for any needs that you have," said Mercedes Dimas, "and for them to come back and say hey, like, I know that you'll help me, that's just a great feeling.

The community house helps many in the Spanish-speaking community and that's where Dimas comes in as the Family Services Coordinator. She also helps refugees who now call Siouxland home.
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Our primary goal and like what we focus on is really just empowering people that are coming in and hopefully," Dimas said, "with that empowerment, we're encouraging even more people to come into our communities." Andrea Paret has two main roles within the Community House. She's their accredited representative for the Department of Justice and works with those seeking American citizenship.

"The immigration system right now is very, very complicated and chaotic, and we have to explain to a lot of our clients now the wait times are very, very long, especially with COVID," Paret said. "But it is expensive and you have to bring a lot of documents and make sure you have everything correct and from now your whole immigration history. So they really look very, very strict into everything, if you're really eligible."

"They want to make sure you are entitled to citizenship, with all the responsibilities and advantages that come with it." She helps Siouxlanders through the process of becoming American citizens.

"There are a lot of requirements, and one of them is that you need to speak and write and understand English," Paret said, "So we also do offer English classes. But we're excited to help and encourage people who are eligible to apply for naturalization."

Along with citizenship services, Paret also teaches preschool at the Community House, which offers a DHS-licensed school to Siouxland kids.

"Currently we have children in our preschool from several different countries including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Marshall Islands, Mexico, El Salvador and the United States," Paret said, speaking of her class. "70% of communication is by body language and virtual and that was that preschool if you use a lot of visuals no pictures about everything you have like the daily routine and you have pictures, everybody's going on the circle or a book that's being read or, so that helps a lot."

In a preschool class with so much diversity, the students are immersed in a world different from their own, learning every day that their friends come from all over the world.

"And I think it helps children just from a young age to just to learn that it's okay if we come from different places if we wear different clothing. If we have different customs and it's just a given and fun to learn about each other," Paret said.

The Mary J. Treglia Community House offers so much to so many, with programming as diverse as the community they serve.

"Like this community, this entire country is really just made up of so many immigrants and it's so fascinating that we have all these cultures, right, like available for us to learn from," Dimas said.

"It's easy to forget that if you stay in your little bubbles," Carlson reflected back on all of the people she's met during her time at the Community House. "But if you open up and are able to like, get to know other people or the community you'll see there are some really amazing things that are happening from all different cultures."

If you'd like to learn about the services offered at the Mary J. Treglia Community House, visit their website marytreglia.org.

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For young girls, the pressure to be perfect can be overwhelming, but there is one place in Siouxland girls can go where they can be themselves without those impossible standards.

"We know for example that girls are really impacted by perfectionism that they put on themselves or that maybe is from the outside, the influence of peers, and that is a big pressure in their lives. And then people-pleasing so all of those add up to really impossible standards to meet and can impact self-esteem."

Mandy Engel-Cartie is the Executive Director at Girls Inc., a local organization that has taught girls that being perfect is just being true to who you are.

"We want them to know it's okay to put a little bit of pressure on yourself to succeed to try harder to achieve, but that doesn't have to be the end of the story," Engel-Cartie said.

Girls Inc. has been a part of Siouxland for 35 years, helping hundreds of young girls find their true potential throughout the last three decades.

"That's kind of my role around here is to make sure that the girls' environment is positive, is always responding to whatever their needs may be, both within the organization, and outside in the world that they face, and also to make sure that we give them any kind of hand up that they might need," Engle-Cartie said as we sat in their science lab.

Girls Inc. is more than just an after-school or summer program. They give young girls the space and freedom to discover who they are in the presence of their friends, and mentors who help them along the way.

"I love Girls Inc. because they're able to assist kids not only with school and personal matters but pretty much in every aspect and however they need help, we're able to service them," said Program Director Olivia Ray.

Inside Girls Inc., girls are able to learn about things they otherwise wouldn't in school, like how taxes work and what to expect from their first job.

"This financial literacy course teaches kids about taxes, why we have to pay taxes and what that tax money is used for," said Ray. "They also learn how to fill out a W-4 form, and how to read their pay stub."

They also have a computer lab and a science lab, where the girls have a chance to create, make mistakes and learn along the way.

Engel-Cartie says science is a perfect example of how being perfect, isn't always the way to go. "We know science is not about perfection."

"Science is about experimenting and getting things wrong and then thinking how can I do that again and get it right, so you're focused more on what's going to happen and what you want to happen, and less on your failures." The staff at Girls Inc. lead by example, stepping out of their own comfort zones to show the girls that making mistakes and looking silly is not a bad thing.

"A big part of our mission here is saying to girls, we don't care if we look silly doing this for the first time or the 50th time," Engel-Cartie said. "The point is we're all in this together. We're all supporting each other and we don't want you to give up.

And many staff, like Ray, continue this work outside the walls of Girls Inc. Ray also works in the juvenile detention center, teaching critical skills needed in the outside world and an opportunity to learn from past mistakes.

"It gives them a chance to reflect on the decisions they made and also gives them time to move forward and make better decisions in the future." Ray teaches fitness at the detention center, and also a financial literacy class.

Back at Girls Inc., it's all about creating an environment where these young women can feel safe and empowered away from the pressures of social media.

"Body Dysmorphia is a huge problem with girls," Engel-Cartie said. "They're self-conscious very often about how they look because of the messages that they've received in their lives and we really want you to know that being a girl means that you have wonderful strengths, and you have an amazing future, and we want to be here to help you go the direction that you want to go."

More than three decades after the first girls walked through their doors, Girls Inc. continues to be a place where they can thrive.

"We want to learn to know that after 35 years, we believe in girls. We're the expert in girls, and we want your girls to come here, learn about themselves and be part of the supportive environment," Engel-Cartie said.

If you want to learn more about Girls Inc. or enroll your child visit their website at girlsincofsiouxcity.org.

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Having a big brother or big sister is something many kids dream of. One Siouxland organization is helping them have that experience thanks to some generous volunteers.
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"I hope to get close to him, you know, see him grown up and see what he becomes and just be there for him and know that he can count on me for anything they can needs."

Jesus Jimenez is a big brother to Tristan, but not in the way you may think. They are part of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland, an organization paring adults, or bigs, with local kids, or littles. It's a mentoring program that's created everlasting bonds.

"So it's been great just hearing all the success that our matches have had." Kristen Langel is the Program Director at Big Brothers Big Sisters and was a Big Sister herself. She knows firsthand how this program can change the lives of those involved.

"It's just having that extra person that a child can reach out to, can talk to," Langel said. "You know kind of share things that they don't have that quote-unquote big brother or big sister at home who they can share problems that they're dealing with friendships or school or their siblings bugging them, just kind of thing and get that one-on-one quality time with somebody else."

Matches are made based on interests, preferences, and commonalities.

"We make sure we find a big, who you know is interested in the same activities as a child, maybe has those same experiences, and we match them that way," Langel said.

Bigs are required to set up at least two outings a month with their littles, but many go above and beyond that. And those meetings can be anything from a movie day to a trip to the ballpark.

Jesus has a fun way to create memories with Tristan. "I met with Tristan and his grandma and we kind of thought of ideas to do, and I jotted them down on popsicle sticks and every week that I go visit him, he draws one out and see what we're doing."

Jesus and Tristan are a great pair and were heading to a picnic after our interview. Kristen says they are always looking for bigs and little with many on both sides waiting for that perfect match.

"I think it's just those connections, and especially in the last 18 months between children being out of school and virtual learning at home and through the pandemic, just the importance of having that person," Langel said.

If you'd like to volunteer to be a Big, or if you have a child who could benefit from being a little to someone in Siouxland, you can contact Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland.

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The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, or ESSER funds, have helped school districts nationwide recover from the pandemic. Sioux City Schools is no different.
Let's take a look at the District's ESSER funding so far:

ESSER I
WHEN: Spring 2020
AMOUNT: $2.6 million
USE: Personal Protective Equipment and Cleaning Supplies

ESSER II
WHEN: December 2020
AMOUNT: $17.3 million
USE: More PPE, cleaning supplies. Plus, additional technology to make sure every student and educator had access to technology for virtual and in-person learning. 

ESSER III
WHEN: March 2021
AMOUNT: $38.9 million
USE: To Be Determined

The district school board, the community and school officials have discussed many options to use the nearly $39 million in ESSER III funding.

During Monday's school board meeting, the board will be presented with a plan on how to best spend the allocated funds. Siouxland News got a preview of that proposal from district superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kim Buryanek. 

"First of all, we're here to serve students," said Dr. Gausman, "that's our number one principle and so, we've got to take a look at the students and figure out ways in which we can serve them to help them grow."

At least 20% of the $39 million must be used to address pandemic learning loss. With this proposal, the district is allocating more than $15 million, or 40% of its budget.

ADDRESSING LEARNING LOSS

"We've got to take a look at where our students' learning loss has occurred where are the biggest challenges, what subgroup of students is the largest subgroup that is witnessed we've witnessed the greatest learning loss," Dr. Gausman said. 

This school year is the 3rd under the COVID-19 bubble and the impact the virus has had on kids' education is already being seen.

"We see an impact of COVID in our early grades," Dr. Buryanek said of the pandemic's already-felt impact in the district. "There are some foundational skills that students two years ago when they were in second grade or two years ago in first grade, they just missed out on some learning, and now we're seeing the impact of that in our student achievement scores."

Part of the 40% will be distributed to other organizations that help student achievement. According to government data, 70% of the district's student body lives in poverty.

"If we can equalize the challenges of poverty, we will equalize those scores across racial and ethnic groups, and across those who are learning the English language." Dr. Gausman said, "and so, I really believe that's a civil rights issue for our time to look at serving those students in poverty."

Monday night's board meeting will also give the public a first look at student testing data and while preliminary, can help guide the school board and district in the right direction to best help students and teachers.

"And when we look at that data, yes we can see some different performance levels among subgroups might be racial groups or ethnic groups, but where we really see the largest challenge is students in poverty," Dr. Gausman said. 

One way the district hopes to help student achievement is through summer home visits. These voluntary visits will bring a student's teacher to their front door, creating a stronger relationship between the student, their teacher and the family as a whole.

Dr. Buryanek said this voluntary visit could do great things for students and staff. "Research studies have been done on home visit programs and those studies show that there is an increase in attendance, there's an increase in parent and student engagement when a successful home visit programs are enacted in schools."

The district also has a plan to help their teachers with their own professional learning time.

"We've allocated an additional hour a week, that if teachers want to, they can come in, outside of their contract day and work with other teachers of their grade level or their content area and really take a look at students and their proficiency, who is struggling as a student, what can they do differently to help impact their student achievement," Dr. Buryanek said. 

THE OTHER 24 MILLION

But now the challenge is how to best use the remaining $24 million.

"Anytime we have a real opportunity like this one, we need to model," Dr. Gausman said about him, the district and the school board. "We as adults working to solve these challenges and use this opportunity. We need to model for our students and our community, how adults deal with challenges..

"This is a challenge because it's one-time money. We can't spend this money over and over again well beyond the 2024 timeline and so we have to be careful about that." One of the largest allocations is slated to be used to hire more educators. The district wants to hire around 45 new teachers to help reduce class sizes district-wide. They’ve set aside $7.5 million for those new hires over the next three years.

"Our board has been very clear with us about this, however, that anything you put in here has got to be sustainable, one way or another and yes, we've got a number of staffing positions in there, and yes this money will go away eventually," Gasman said, "but we do have a process design where we can do our best to sustain as many of those members of our personnel, as we move forward."

Another position is a Family Support Coordinator.

"We know that families in our community have been challenged have challenges with COVID," Dr. Buryanek said, "and so we want to make sure that they have somebody that they can reach out to in our school district that will help connect them with support and resources."

The budget also allocated $3.25 million for permanent substitute teachers within the district.

Another large line item is upgrades and additions to the district H-VAC systems with $7.5 million also allocated to that project. One part of that project is adding air conditioning to the gyms at East, North and West High, the only areas within the school buildings not cooled. They also hope to bring better air quality to all buildings district-wide.

"We want to install a district-wide UV system to treat the air as it comes into our building, to help cut down and prevent any viruses," said Dr. Buryanek, "and not only are we talking about COVID viruses, but it also has an impact on any students that have asthma or other upper respiratory illnesses or challenges. 

"It really will make a long term improvement well into the future that, that we can sustain." Along with improvements to air quality, comes sustaining the heightened cleaning that the district has had to do since the start of the pandemic. They've allocated nearly $650,000 to hire more than a dozen new custodial staff to help keep the district buildings clean. The district has stepped up cleaning protocols in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another district improvement in the proposal is a $1.5 million project to house the new VIBE Academy, the district's new permanent virtual learning school.

"It's paramount," Buryaken said, "it's very important for them to be together in the same space so they can collaborate. They can have conversations about students that are struggling and get them connected back to the school or to resources that will ensure their success."

One other budget item allocates $80,000 to purchase rapid COVID-19 tests, creating rapid testing sites at each district building for students and staff. These tests would only be given to students with written parent permission. This line item has also been widely praised by many in the district and community.

"So with the board's approval or acknowledgment of this budget," Bruyanek said, "hopefully Monday night, we plan to move forward with acquiring rapid COVID tests on Tuesday."

Monday's proposal to the school board is just that. A proposal. With each item and project being approved as needed throughout the next three years.

"This is a budget that plans on how we're going to spend money all the way into 2024," Dr. Gausman said. "The currently seated board won't be here, necessarily, then and that board that's here in 2024 might have different ideas then. So I don't think that it's just Monday that we might make some alterations, I think you'll see us bringing this back in front of the board on a regular basis between now and the end of the resources."

Overall, Gausman and Buryanek say this plan and the hours dedicated to developing it, has first and foremost student success in mind.

"We want to make sure that we use this money wisely and we have the greatest impact on students and student achievement that we possibly can."

The Sioux City School Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the district's downtown building and is open to the public. 

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