State Representative readies for second year

Jan. 8—Republican and Iowa House member Devon Wood is ready to apply what she learned during her first year. From New Market, Wood said it was compelling last year to see how many issuses one legislative topic can influence.

"Every issue is related to itself," she said Friday, as the 2024 session begins today. "Everything from agriculture to health care, those items can intersect."

One issue she has researched, and noticed the impact it has on other facets, is obstetrician-gynecologist health care. Specifically, the places in Southwest Iowa, not just her district, where a pregnancy can be monitored and a baby delivered. She said the number of hospitals in Southwest Iowa were a child can be scheduled to deliver is getting even smaller. Creston and Shenandoah are the two places where that health care is provided.

"We can boil that down," Wood said. "It's a part of economic development."

Learning from fellow State Senator Tom Shipley, Wood said many issues in Iowa would be solved with more population. But until that happens, Wood said those issues must still be addressed.

"I still think Southwest Iowa and its communities are the best place to live, work and raise a family," she said. "If there is no place to have a baby, folks will start moving. That will close businesses and force jobs to move. That will have a trickle effect."

Although several of the hospitals in the region are still equipped to deliver a baby in an emergency setting, Wood is learning how OB-GYN care strategies are being shared among health-care providers.

She learned how the hospital in Carroll, which is not in her district, is offering various OB-GYN services to other health-care providers in the region to keep them current on trends and procedures, even for emergency situations. Wood's district includes a majority of Union County including the the city of Creston. Rep. Sorensen's district includes extreme eastern and northern portions of Union County.

As vice chairman of health and human services, Wood is researching if there are financial incentives for health-care providers to work in an underserved OB-GYN areas so expecting mothers do have somewhere closer to go for those needs.

"We have to look for more opportunities," she said.

Wood's work on OB-GYN care is broad. She also wants post-partum coverage to extend to a year after the birth of the child. "We are still not there," Wood said. "If mom is making sure the child has checkups during its first year, we need moms to have the best health care so she can take care of the child."

Wood also wants the father of the child to be involved by offering fundamental childcare courses including meal preparation.

"We want to support the mother and the child but make sure the mother and child have support from others," she said.

Wood said there is interest on the other age of life as the state's senior living facilities have been under scrutiny for care of residents.

"We have an obligation to provide quality care," she said. "One the House side, we talk about nursing home and other health institutions being abused by out-of-state ownership. We have that strain in our backyard."

Other issues...

Wood expects public teacher pay to be part of the session.

"Iowa, K through 12, has been slipping among our peers," she said. "We need to reverse that trend and hear what they need in their classrooms." Wood is also interested in finding ways to help the lack of teachers for schools. She said interest is finding people who have a lengthy, extensive career in a certain industry whose knowledge can be converted into teaching the subject.

"How can they teach it? How can they make it easier for a school to hire them," she said. Wood said she still wants school districts to evaluate applicants.