Local News – Friday, March 27th, 2020

The Salem Memorial District Hospital is now re-routing all Outpatient patients and patient visitors to the North front entrance at the circle drive. Those doors will be open from 7:00 in the morning until 7:00 in the evening, Monday through Friday. Only individuals that need EMERGENCY medical attention should enter through the Emergency/ER entrance. For all other hospital business, please enter through the north entrance. As a reminder, any individuals experiencing cough, shortness of breath, fever AND have had contact with a CONFIRMED case of COVID-19, should contact their health care provider or the hospital Emergency Department by PHONE. Individuals will be asked to supply information about their symptoms, when and how they had contact with a confirmed case. Individuals with COVID-19 symptoms AND that have had contact with an individual with COVID-19, should NOT arrive at a Health Care Provider or Emergency Room without contacting their provider or the emergency room ahead of time so they can receive instructions on where to go. The health care provider may either suggest testing via a commercial lab or involve public health resources. Those individuals should also practice Social Distancing to avoid the spread of any illness to family, friends and neighbors. There are NO medications specifically approved for COVID-19. Most people with mild coronavirus illness will recover on their own by drinking plenty of fluids, resting, and taking pain and fever medications. Also, the Salem Memorial District Hospital has reported that due to the current COVID-19 guidelines, SMDH Family Medicine will be adjusting their clinic hours effective Monday, March 30th. The clinic hours will be Monday through Friday from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening. To schedule an appointment, please call 573-729-8000. They will continue to offer SAME DAY appointments and will re-evaluate the operating hours as COVID-19 guidelines change.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is now accepting applications for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund Grant Program. This assistance is targeted for nonprofits serving vulnerable citizens affected by the coronavirus outbreak across the CFO’s 58-county service region of central and southern Missouri. The CFO serves communities within the state of Missouri south of the Missouri River and outside the metro areas of St. Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City. Agencies may apply for up to $25,000 in funding. Agency partnerships working in a collective impact model of at least three collaborating organizations may apply for up to $40,000. Lead applicant agencies must be nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organizations, government entities, school districts or tax-exempt faith-based organizations. Agencies and agency partnerships able to provide a plan for generating matching dollars as a component of their application will receive preference in the grant making process. Matching dollars do not have to be raised in advance as long as a well-formed plan is established to acquire those matching funds. Agencies can begin the application process at the website cfozarks.org/applyforgrants. This grant program will remain open as long as funding is available throughout the COVID-19 recovery process. Applications will be reviewed by a committee comprised of community volunteers and CFO staff representatives. For questions regarding the application or the online system, contact Bridget Dierks, Vice President of Programs, at (417) 864-6199. For those groups that are interested in applying, contact Mary Beth Cook from the Dent County Community Foundation and she will be more than happy to help. You can e-mail her at mbcook16@gmail.com or call her at 573-453-6091.

The Missouri Department of Conservation George O. White State Forest Nursery near Licking is offering residents a variety of low-cost native tree and shrub seedlings for reforestation, windbreaks, erosion control, and wildlife food and cover. Orders are being accepted through April 15th. The Department of Conservation has extended the seedling shipping timeframe through the end of May. According to MDC, the shipping season typically winds down in early May after nursery staff have shipped millions of seedlings to schools, landowners, and MDC staff for planting all over the state. Since the precautionary measures in place to decrease the spread of COVID-19, the nursery has been closed to the public and has plenty of seedlings left. Order seedlings online at mdc.mo.gov/seedlings, or fax an order form to 573-674-4047. Contact the nursery at 674-3229 or email StateForestNursery@mdc.mo.gov for an order form. Virtual Tours of the nursery are available at short.mdc.mo.gov/Zey.

Effective Wednesday, the Dent County Extension Office has been closed by the University of Missouri. Soil testing forms are available on the 2nd floor of the Judicial Building outside the Extension Office. You can still submit soil tests, but you will have to send them directly to the University of Missouri Lab. You can find out how to submit soil test by going to the University of Missouri Extension Website. If you need help have questions, call 729-3196.

The Missouri Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) would like to remind producers of the program sign-up deadlines to be considered for Fiscal Year 2020 funding. The Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) application deadline is March 30th, 2020; the Environmental Quality Incentive Program-Regional Conservation Partnership Program (EQIP-RCPP) application deadline is also March 30th, 2020; and the Conservation Stewardship Program-Classic (CSP-Classic) application deadline is June 1st, 2020. Producers may submit a signed and dated application via the mail, fax, scan, email, or submit through the agency approved Client-Gateway at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov website. You may also submit application requests to your local NRCS office through telephone, email or letter received by the sign-up cut-off date listed above. NRCS will follow-up to obtain applicant signature’s prior the application being ranked. If an application is not signed and returned to the local NRCS office prior to ranking, the application will be considered invalid. For more information contact the NRCS office in Rolla at 364-2088 or in Houston at 417-967-2028.