Palo Alto County
County in IowaWikipedia
21
MENTIONS
5
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 21 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Palo Alto County".
Oct 7, 2026
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Living here, it has always felt like it was not a matter of if you were going to get cancer.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
It was a matter of when and where the cancer was going to be, said Sarah Strowman, director of public health for Palo Alto County.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Cass County only recently overtook Palo Alto County for the highest cancer incident rate in Iowa, according to data from the National Cancer Institute.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
The two heavily agricultural counties, though, are hardly outliners.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Nearly half of Iowa's ninety-nine counties now have cancer rates higher than Louisiana's Cancer Alley, a heavily industrialized stretch long infamous for its extraordinary cancer risk.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
For generations, rural Iowans have taken pride in the mantra that they feed the world.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Now they are questioning what that has cost them at home.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
In Iowa, it's not just the air we breathe, Maureen Reeves Horsley, a longtime Palo Alto County nurse practitioner who lost her sister to breast cancer.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
tears welled up in every corner of the room as schroeder spoke the steep toll cancer has taken on her life and family would be staggering almost anywhere but in cass county and across iowa stories like hers are becoming unnervingly familiar living here it has always felt like it was not a matter of if you were going to get cancer.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
It was a matter of when and where the cancer was going to be, said Sarah Stroman, Director of Public Health for Palo Alto County.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Cass County only recently overtook Palo Alto County for the highest cancer incident rate in Iowa, according to data from the National Cancer Institute.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
The two heavily agricultural counties, though, are hardly outliners.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Nearly half of Iowa's 99 counties now have cancer rates higher than Louisiana's Cancer Alley, a heavily industrialized stretch long infamous for its extraordinary cancer risk.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
For generations, rural Iowans have taken pride in the mantra that they feed the world.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
Now they are questioning what that has cost them at home.
Mary GilmoreNARRATOR
In Iowa, it's not just the air we breathe, Maureen Reeves Horsley, a longtime Palo Alto County nurse practitioner who lost her sister to breast cancer.
Steve AbramowiczHOST
There is little doubt that we will overtake them and infamously become the number one cancer state per capita.
Steve AbramowiczHOST
Cass County only recently overtook Palo Alto County for the highest cancer incidence rate in Iowa, according to data from the National Cancer Institute.
Steve AbramowiczHOST
The two heavily agricultural counties, though, are hardly outliers.
Steve AbramowiczHOST
Nearly half of Iowa's 99 counties now have cancer rates higher than Louisiana's Cancer Alley, a heavily industrialized stretch long infamous for its extraordinary cancer risk.
Nick El HajjGUEST
For years, cancer was almost treated as a way of life, but now the toll and the suffering have become too overwhelming and too visible to ignore, and there is real pain, and there's a real anger and hunger and demand for answers.
Nick El HajjGUEST
I spoke with Maureen Reeves-Horsley, a nurse in Palo Alto County, Iowa, which is the county with the second-highest rate in the state.
Nick El HajjGUEST
It used to have the highest in the state.
Nick El HajjGUEST
She told me she could name at least 40 people, four zero, 40 people, who have had cancer or had died from it within her vicinity.
Laura BelinGUEST
It was symbolism.
Laura BelinGUEST
He started in Mike Nagg's home county, which has a very high cancer rate, Palo Alto County.
Laura BelinGUEST
And then he continued ending in Des Moines.
Laura BelinGUEST
Chris Jones, many years ago, he was a water scientist working for the Des Moines Water Works.