NICC healthcare students make community impact

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Almost Home provides a guest house emergency shelter for dads and their children and a clothes closet for anyone in need. 

In a new initiative, Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) healthcare students make and donate blankets to Almost Home, a shelter established in Dubuque to serve fathers and their children. The NICC healthcare students participate in HOSA-Future Health Professionals, an organization for future health professionals to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration and experience. 

As a part of their mission to deliver compassion and quality healthcare, the students wanted to provide warmth and comfort to those in need in their community. Since December, HOSA members spent their free time cutting and tying blankets in hopes of donating them to those in need. 

Lora Hannan, Radiologic Technology program director, connected with NICC graduate Dwight Turner, executive director at Almost Home. Almost Home provides a guest house emergency shelter for dads and their children and a clothes closet for anyone in need. 

A Radiologic Technology student, Lanie Konzen, helped organize the blanket donation project. “HOSA decided to do the blankets because they’re always in need, especially in winter. It’s a small thing for people to do, but it can make a big impact in someone’s life,” Konzen said. 

Shannon Contreras, an Almost Home case manager, says the kids will especially love the blankets, “they don’t have a lot when they come here; they can pick out a blanket they like and it can make them feel safe.”  Contreras said the shelter could accommodate around 23 people or five families.