Three steps before you shop seriously for a new house

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 22 March 2011 14:32

Ample inventory, low mortgage rates and motivated sellers—all these key elements are present in real estate markets across the country, indicating it’s still a great time to buy a house.

If you’re thinking of buying a house—whether it’s new or existing, your first home or your fifth—you can help ensure you get the best possible deal by doing a few things before you get down to serious shopping.

1. Check your credit. You might think that getting pre-approved for a mortgage is your first step in home-shopping, and it is an important one. But before you talk to a potential lender, you should check your credit report and score—because the mortgage company certainly will.

Your credit score is a reflection of your credit...

Read more: Three steps before you shop seriously for a new house

Do your homework when shopping for a used vehicle

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 15 March 2011 15:07

Used vehicles are a lot like snowflakes or people—no two are exactly alike.

Sure, two Ford Mustangs are exactly alike when they role off the assembly line. But once they go home with a human being, no two cars are ever quite the same again.

Maybe one is meticulously maintained, and only driven once a week to church and back. Maybe one gets in an accident, or is owned by a travelling salesman who drives 50,000 miles in a year.

Once a vehicle has been on the road even for a short time, it takes on characteristics that make it just a little different from every vehicle on the road.

So, with more than 30 million used vehicles sold throughout the United States every year, how can you make sure you get the right used vehicle to fit your...

Read more: Do your homework when shopping for a used vehicle

Flu shots help keep hospitals from spreading illness in Marion County

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 08 March 2011 14:47

In the midst of National Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 6-12, the two hospitals in Marion County report they are making progress to ensure that their health care personnel, including medical staff, are protecting patients by receiving annual flu shots.

At Hillsboro Community Hospital, statistics for the 2009-10 flu season show that 87 percent of its health care personnel were vaccinated. That is a 47 percent increase over the 2008-09 vaccination rate of 40 percent, according to hospital officials.

Statistics for the 2010-11 flu season were not reported.

Meanwhile, St. Luke Hospital in Marion reports that more than 85 percent of their health care personnel, including medical staff, received a flu vac­cin­a­tion during the...

Read more: Flu shots help keep hospitals from spreading illness in Marion County

Leffler brings experience, heart to new role at Parkside Homes

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 08 March 2011 14:46

Tracy Leffler is Parkside’s new health services coordinator. A familiar face has accepted a new role at Parkside Homes Inc., Hills­boro, effective the first of March.

Tracy Leffler, who has been employed at Parkside in a number of nursing-related roles since joining the staff in August 1997, has been named health services coordinator.

According to administrator Gretchen Wagner, the job of the health services coordinator is essentially the same as a director of nursing, but the title has been changed to reflect with Parkside’s commitment to cultural change, which emphasizes the needs of residents rather than the traditional institutional model of care.

“As cultural change has progressed, some of the words we use are changed to be more social minded as opposed to medical minded,” Wagner...

Read more: Leffler brings experience, heart to new role at Parkside Homes