Home Page | Rotary Club of Fort Dodge

Mary Green-Warnstandt

Nov 24, 2025

Main Street Development - e.g. Carver Building and more

Airport 2025-11-17

Fort Dodge Regional Airport Director, Sarah Rustvold

Born and raised in Fort Dodge, Sarah Rustvold had a dream to become an opera singer. Little did she know that life would fly her in a different direction.

She began employment at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on January 23, 2017. She worked with then Executive Director Rhonda Chambers, learned a great deal under her tutelage, applied for the Executive Director position when Rhonda decided to retire, and is now serving in that capacity.

Skywest Airlines, through United, serves the Fort Dodge region with daily flights to Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Skywest is the largest regional carrier in the country. Minneapolis provides air traffic control.

The airport has much more than commercial aviation. General aviation is actually bigger than commercial aviation. Our airport employs five people, has farmland that they rent, leases hangar space, and recently had a fundraiser for the Brushy Creek Honor Flight. It is about 71% self-supported, with the other 29% coming through property taxes.

Skywest receives dollars through the Essential Air Service program. This provides an incentive for airlines to provide air service to communities like Fort Dodge, where the amount of business is less than in larger markets. Their contract will be up for renewal in March 2027. Essential Air Service is a federal program of about $95M, which is .00101% of the federal budget. Sarah said the airport provides $18M of economic output for the community.

The City of Fort Dodge has been a valued partner, helping with projects like rehabilitating a runway. This is very helpful, especially with about 8,500 enplanements in a year.

The Airport Commission oversees airport operations, meeting monthly. Club Co-President Casey Johnson’s wife Deb had been on the commission for over 20 years. She is stepping down, but their son Matt will be joining the commission.

Be on the lookout for more events embracing the community, Brushy Creek Honor Flights, and with any luck another destination (in addition to Chicago) out of our local airport.

Two Rotarians

Upcoming Rotary Meeting Potential

The annual conference for District 5970 will be held on May 1st and 2nd at the campus of Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls. This is your chance to attend a meeting of Rotarians across Northcentral and Northeastern Iowa discussing what projects they are doing, and to have discussions with peers across the State. The close location to our club is a real benefit for cost containment.

Joe Tofilion was Presented with His PHF+7 pin.

Rotarian Tofilon was presented his Paul Harris +7 pin, recognizing a major contribution to the Rotary Foundation. Thank you to Joe fir his commitment to helping others worldwide.

Mana Meal

Joe Tofilon announced that Rotary will again host the Mana Meal on December 13th. Rotarian Meyer will again prepare her famous lasagna that will be supplemented by cookies, salad, drinks, and post mean entertainment. Please contact Joe if you are willing to help with this annual event. The purpose of the event is a collaboration of Fort Dodge area clubs and service groups that provides a monthly hot meal for individuals living in the Fort Dodge area (primarily within the downtown area) without resources to provide their own solid meal.

2025-11-10 Trinity Heart Center

Trinity Heart Center: Stephanie Koenig, Amy Palmer, Jenn Crimmins

In April 2024, the Iowa Heart Center announced they were unable to provide inpatient care. That would mean the closest cardiac care would have been an hour and a half away. Leadership said, “We have to try.” Trinty was able to start the Trinity Heart Center by October 2024, and are now celebrating their one-year anniversary. They have 10 practitioners, who also provide cardiac care in Pocahontas, Humboldt, and Sac City twice per month.

It is very difficult to recruit cardiologists to Fort Dodge, but there was a great deal of interest in treating patients through telehealth options. About half of the practitioners see patients using tele options and the others see patients in-person. When one sees a cardiologist through telemedicine, there is a live nurse in the room. The nurse helps complete the physical assessment for the cardiologist, so he or she can have the data needed for treatment. According to Casey Johnson, “It was like he was right there in person. Everything was covered like he was sitting there. I would highly recommend it.” Those who have tried the telemedicine option generally continue with it.

Sixty-one percent of Trinity Heart Center patients see an in-person practitioner.

The Trinity Heart Center is able to do stress tests, echocardiograms, coronary CT angiograms, cardioversion, event monitoring, interventions in the cath lab, and referrals to cardiovascular services if more care is needed. The Trinity Heart Center can also manage therapies using blood thinners.

How blessed Fort Dodge is to have the Trinity Heart Center, as well as the people who did the work to make that happen.

Save the Date for Christmas Program

The annual Rotary Christmas Program will be held on December 4th 2025 at the Smeltzer House. Be sure to mark your calendars for this very fun event. Other information and how to register will be forthcoming.

Invocation Leaders