Aubrey Alvarez is not an app developer. But as executive director at Eat Greater Des Moines, Alvarez saw what the stakes were without an efficient solution to connect food “waste” from potential donors, like event planners or caterers, to potential recipients, including nonprofits and school pantries. Alvarez and the board of directors at Eat Greater Des Moines knew the organization could fill the need – and, with the help of
Health
Newly updated, ChowBank offers virtual introduction between food donors and recipients
Polk City parents create now-global, Iowa-made kid product
Amy and Chad Vohs of Polk City recently tuned in to “Ellen,” the afternoon talk show hosted by the comic, and found NBC “Today” host Hoda Kotb on the episode. Kotb recently became a mother and shared a photo of her daughter, Haley Joy. And that’s when Amy Vohs grew excited. She spied her Lil’ Sidekicks product in use on the side of the baby’s stroller. “No one else knew,”
Hospitals look for more wag, less bark
We all know about pet therapy, but a group of hospitals is deploying canines in an official feel-good mission for patients, Radio Iowa reports. The hospitals in Iowa and Nebraska are offering “wag therapy.” Kris Wiley, a mental health practitioner at CHI Health in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says pooch power is real. “Research has shown that it can reduce anxiety, it reduces people’s blood pressure,” Wiley said. “Some research has even shown that
FDA speeds review of Iowa City firm’s AI blindness detection system
Iowa City-based IDx, an artificial intelligence diagnostics company working on a system to detect a leading cause of blindness, has won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for expedited review. IDx-DR uses AI to check for diabetic retinopathy. The FDA ruled the system is a “breakthrough device” that qualifies for expedited review. That designation is applied to devices that “provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly