I recently spoke with Sara Konrad Baranowski, editor at the Iowa Falls Times Citizen and advocate of small communities and local news. 

Iowa Falls had two community struggles come to a head in one week in October, she explained.

The Hansen Family Hospital, a critical access hospital that built a new $30 million facility in 2014, announced it would no longer deliver babies after Nov. 23 — pushing Hardin County residents to go a minimum of 45 minutes away for prenatal and delivery care. Webster City, only 30 minutes away from Iowa Falls, stopped delivering babies on Oct. 1.  

The hospital issue was twofold, Baranowski said: Rural hospitals struggle to attract obstetricians or family doctors willing to take 24-hour emergency calls, and Medicaid reimbursement, which accounted for more than 50 percent of Hardin County’s deliveries, wasn’t covering the hospital’s costs.  

The second issue: The only child care center in Iowa Falls, Riverbend Child Care, announced it would close permanently on Nov. 9. The 38-year-old center cared for 20 children, eight of which were full-time. The only child care options left for Iowa Falls families are in-home providers, which may not accept state assistance from clients. 

Both of these stories, which only recently received statewide attention, felt indicative to Baranowski of the struggles small communities in Iowa are facing. Businesses could miss out on workers who can’t find child care for their children, and young families may choose to move to communities that have medical services right in town. 

“My concern is more than just child care, it’s more than the hospital,” Baranowski said. “People work incredibly hard in rural towns to make these things work. They raised $7 million in a town of 5,000 people for a hospital. That’s incredible.” 

Baranowski grew up in Cedar Rapids, and said she was “sort of ignorant” when it came to the issues affecting smaller towns until she moved to Iowa Falls. Yet, the student population in the Iowa Falls Community School District is stable, Baranowski said, and the newly-expanded Native American and Natural History Museum hosts one of the largest collections of Native American artifacts in Central Iowa. There are good things happening in small towns, she said. 

“There are smart, dedicated, passionate people in rural communities who are trying to make it work. They are building trails, and opening a museum and a nature center that has the best collection of Native American artifacts, promoting the artistic community in our town through festivals and events,” Baranowski added. “We do have a pretty vibrant downtown. … But it almost seems like it doesn’t matter how much of that you do, you’re still fighting these issues that face every rural community.”