Senator Ernst Visits Muscatine

By Mary Mason

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R) visited Muscatine on February 18, as part of her 99 counties tour of Iowa. Ernst was provided a tour of the hospital facilities and spoke briefly about the importance of providing adequate help to people in need of mental health assistance.

“It was very well done, a great tour, and a lot of points made focused heavily on mental health and some of the concerns there, and those are some of the concerns that I have as well, so it was great to hear some of their examples,” Ernst said in an interview after the tour.

“This is where we’re going to require a lot of partnership through local, state, as well as federal government, and we really do need to find a way to encourage more providers in the mental health area, making sure that we are addressing the needs of the populations,” Ernst said when asked what the federal government can do to assist the medical community with mental health care.