Home Care In Hiawatha, IA

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Saturday, the United States Navy christened a new submarine called the USS Iowa in Groton, Connecticut. Over a thousand miles away in Hiawatha, Iowa, a group of veterans and other community members looked on during a watch party.

About twenty people gathered at the El Kahir Shrine to see the ceremony. One of them was Justin Tisor.

“I was in the United States Navy on a submarine, USS Alexandria out of Groton, Connecticut, which is where the ceremony is taking place today,” said Tisor.

He said the longest he spent underwater was a stretch of 62 days.

“There are no windows, obviously,” said Tisor. “We would tape pictures of the sun underneath—at the top of our bunk so that when you wake up, last thing you see before you go to bed is the sunset.”

Tisor said getting to watch on of these ships join the service and be named after his home filled him with pride.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I mean, if you get the chance to watch one, it’s very unique. I’ve never had the chance. I’m looking forward to it,” said Tisor.

“A lot of times they’ll recycle names of ships, and they brought back the Iowa which is great for us Iowans,” said Tom Kurtz, one of the board members of the Cedar Rapids Shriners, who hosted the watch party.

According to the website for the USS Iowa, this vessel is actually the fourth to be named after the state; the first three were battleships.

“It’s important for the state of Iowa to get some recognition and, the veterans that were on the battleship, they get to see a Iowa ship that now is back in service,” said Kurtz.

Tisor said watching a ceremony happening where he used to be based for a submarine named for his home—it pretty much couldn’t get any better.

“That just ties it all together for me,” said Tisor.

Copyright 2023 KCRG. All rights reserved.

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Construction is still underway, but there’s a lot of excitement among the staff about a new basketball facility coming to Hiawatha.

“It’s very exciting obviously, to see all the progress that’s been made and to finally bring people from the outside into our facility,” Shoot 350 general manager Carson Parker said.

It’s called Shoot 360.

“It’s a very advanced basketball training facility, that utilizes a lot of technology to help athletes train and get better in basketball,” owner Jeremy Gomez said. “From shooting, to ball handling, passing, to decision-making - just all areas of the game.”

It will be one of more than 40 locations in the United States. Gomez said he and his wife were first introduced to Shoot 360 when they took their three sons to one in Indianapolis.

“It’s one of those kind of things you just have to see for yourself,” he said.

Gomez knows it can be hard to find an open gym in the Cedar Rapids area. A place like this, provides hoopers an opportunity to put up shots in a certain amount of time without having to chase their own ball.

“Here you can come in for an hour and shoot and you have the automated machine. It will kick the ball back out to you and you’re getting about 300 plus shots up in a half an hour,” Gomez explained, “You’re getting a lot more repetition, a lot more quality shots up in that 30 minutes compared to going to the YMCA or the gym for a whole hour.”

The local facility will feature six shooting stations, six skill courts and a half court. It’s advanced skill training is used by the best players in the country.

“Only Shoot 360 facilities have access to this technology, as well as the NBA and WNBA teams. It’s a patented technology for Shoot 360. To be able to offer that to people around the Cedar Rapids area, is a game changer,” Parker said.

As a former collegiate player and 2018 graduate of Upper Iowa, Parker wishes a place like Shoot 360 was around when he was growing up.

“It is kind mind blowing once you get to use it and see what they have to offer,” he said. “That would have been awesome as a kid growing up.”

Copyright 2023 KCRG. All rights reserved.

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Fire Departments across Iowa are reporting an increase in calls. One community noticed a trend that’s reshaping its approach to fires.

The annual fire report allows fire departments to take a look at what the majority of fires in the area are and allows departments to cater educational services to what the reports say.

For example, the Hiawatha Fire Department says that within the last 10 years, they’ve seen a lot more cooking fires. Using that data, the department has been able to cater its fire prevention techniques.

The department said they’ve visited the local elementary school and talked to the students specifically about cooking safety.

The report also shows that Hiawatha sees roughly a 3% increase in 911 calls for service every year, especially on the north side of town.

That’s where a lot of new developments are going up.

”We are growing, we’re seeing a lot more calls than we used to a lot of that has to do with the growth of the community. When you’re in a fast-growing community, calls tend to go up because you have more people,” said Nick Jellison, deputy cheif of the Hiawatha Fire Department.

The city is building a second fire station on the north side of town. They expect it to open this summer.

The majority of the calls the Hiawatha Fire Department receives are not for fires but for the ambulance service.

”The majority of our calls are ambulance calls,” Jellison said.

Another segment is causing the department’s calls to surge, the Mercy Emergency Room on Boyson Road.

Calls there increased 30% last year alone.

In a city council memo, Fire Chief Matt Powers said December was the department’s busiest month.

Out of the 273 calls, 143 were for transfers from people at Mercy’s Emergency Room to another facility, typically the main hospital.

That’s more than 4 ambulance calls per day.

The Hiawatha ER was the first in Iowa to be built outside of a hospital.

Fire Departments nationwide are facing a surge in medical calls.

”Ambulance calls nationwide have gone up over the last 10 years about 33%, mainly because a lot of people don’t have primary healthcare doctors anymore,” Jellison said.

But the increase has been far more for Hiawatha’s Fire Department.

Since the Mercy E-R opened up in 2020, calls for the Hiawatha Fire Department have increased 115%.

Mercy reimburses the department for those transportation costs and Hiawatha’s Fire Department says the increase is not overwhelming them.

Mercy Cedar Rapids said at the time it would help alleviate crowding at the main hospital and make services more convenient.

It’s opening a second remote ER in Marion later this year.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

After a terrifying couple of months, one Iowa family is opening up their home to two MORE Ukrainian children.

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It's been a long few months for one Hiawatha family. We told you a few weeks ago about a family right here in Iowa that was in the midst of adopting a Ukrainian boy when Russia invaded.

The Breckenridges have a rapidly growing family in Hiawatha. Last year, Jenna and Scott Breckenridge adopted three Ukrainian boys and were in the midst of going through the process to bring home another young man when the chaos in Ukraine unfolded.

15-year-old Artem was in an orphanage in Berdyansk when the conflict broke out. Jenna got word from the adoption agency that Artem was in a bomb shelter in the city. The worried mother lost contact with him the very next day.

The family was expecting the worst...

On March 18th, the family's fears were put to rest and their prayers were answered.

Jenna made a Facebook post nearly two weeks after she lost contact with Artem, expressing her gratitude that he was alive and safe. The mother explained that the orphanage was evacuated and he is currently in Italy.

Safe and sound...

"Artem is out of Ukraine!Thank you, Jesus! ♥?"

In a follow-up post, Jenna shared text message interactions between herself and Artem. From the looks of the texts, it sounds like everyone is just counting down the days until they can be together.

"Hello! I'm alive! I love you so much and you have no idea how much I miss you!"

While it's been a tough road for this family, it looks like there are a few new additions that are joining the Breckenridge crew. Two children are now being welcomed into the Breckenridge family.

Hardin, a young Ukrainian boy, arrived in America in early March. The family adopted him and they claim that he is adapting very well to his new life, according to a report from KWWL.

Just a few weeks later ANOTHER addition was made to the family! On April 1st, Jenna Breckenridge became a mother of NINE when Kate came into their lives. This Iowa woman posted photos with her only daughter at the begining of the month.

In the social media post she wrote,

"I’m officially no longer the only girl in our family.

Everyone, meet Kate."

Less than a week after being in a new home, Jenna even shared on her Facebook page that the young woman already got a job!

The Iowa woman shared that they are still waiting on Artem to come to the United States. His adopted parents are being told that he probably won't be making his way out to America until AFTER the war is over, according to a report from KWWL.

See Inside Roseanne Barr's Eldon Mansion

Roseanne Barr was set to make a home in Iowa. She and her then-husband Tom Arnold were in the midst of building a mansion in Eldon. It was put on hold when the couple eventually split up. This left a beautiful, unfinished, and kind of spooky mansion behind.

Snake Alley in Burlington, IA

Burlington, IA is just one hundred and fifty miles away from Waterloo and a hundred miles away from Cedar Rapids is one of the most see attractions for tourists. Ripley's Believe It or Not! voted Snake Alley as the #1 Odd Spot in America.

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Homemade cupcakes, playful humor, and great customer service — it’s all part of the charm of That One Cupcake Place, according to owner Teresa Dybevik.

After moving from the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers' Market to a stand at NewBo City Market, the bakery has been located at its brick-and-mortar location in Hiawatha for the last six years.

“We have a very wonderful, strong, diehard clientele,” Dybevik said.

But Dybevik said her bakery had been recently been receiving strange requests from customers, asking for items that aren’t on the menu, and then, she said, getting upset when they couldn’t purchase them or not getting food deliveries they thought they ordered.

“Some customers hung up on us. Some of them said they’d never eat our cupcakes again,” Dybevik said. “We were confused, and then we looked on Grubhub’s website, and sure enough, there we were.”

Along with full-size cupcakes from That One Cupcake Place, Grubhub offered to deliver mini cupcakes, ice cream, and milkshakes from the bakery as well — items That One Cupcakes Place doesn’t sell.

Dybevik said she and her staff didn’t even know the bakery was on Grubhub in the first place.

“They took our pictures off of Facebook and Instagram to use for that as well, and we were just kind of baffled as to, how come we weren’t contacted, and there’s no contract, and how is it legally OK for them to do something like that with my business?” Dybevik said.

A spokesperson from Grubhub said the company sometimes adds new restaurants to its marketplace when there’s “diner demand for delivery,” even if the restaurants didn’t ask to take part.

Grubhub said other delivery services do this too, saying in a statement, “We’re trying it as well to close the restaurant supply gap created by our competitors. We strongly believe partnering with restaurants is the only way to drive long-term value in this business.”

Grubhub added that it removed That One Cupcake Place from its marketplace at the bakery’s request, and customers can no longer find it on the delivery service’s app and website. The company said its care team works with customers requesting refunds.

Dybevik said That One Cupcake Place is going to stick with its own delivery and shipping service and hope this doesn’t leave a bad taste in some customers' mouths.

“We just want to make everyone happy,” Dybevik said.

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