The stories behind Iowa - Prairie Ready

• Prairie Ready: The Same Hands That Raise the Barns — “Prairie Ready” places biomedical technicians inside Iowa’s tradition of neighbor-helping-neighbor, alongside the county fair and the barn raising.

Lyrics

How we'd been silvered by the gravel road

Red barn lanes where the

August swallows go At the county fair the lights come on at

five Neighbors trade a helping hand, keep the whole town alive

From the clinic by the courthouse to the farm beyond the creek

There's a promise in the work we do seven days a week

Iowa, wide and steady, take a look around

Every willing heart is keeping this place sound

Biomedical technicians checking every lead and gauge

Keeping rural health care ready for another working day

Iowa, when one wheel turns, we all can find our way

A monitor hums softly in a room at quarter past ten

A careful pair of hands brings the signal back again

They test the pumps and batteries, they trace each tiny line

So a nurse can trust the numbers when a neighbor's on the line

No parade announces them, no banner marks their name

But the doors stay open because they keep the system safe

Iowa, wide and steady, take a look around

Every willing heart is keeping this place sound

Biomedical technicians checking every lead and gauge

Keeping rural health care ready

For another working day

When one wheel turns

We all can find our way

At the fairground after sunset

Folding chairs fill up the grass

Pie from every kitchen

Store from every class

The same hands that raise the barns

The same hands that mend the town

Make room for one more neighbor

When the hard rain's coming down

Iowa, wide and steady

Hear the whole crowd say

We are stronger when we share the load along the way

Biomedical technicians with a practice dying care

Keeping rural healthcare ready

Keeping hope prepared Iowa, when one wheel turns

We all can find our way

Our prairie ready, we'll be here another day

By the wheat fields and the fair lights

Morning finds us carrying on

Our world keeps its people close

And the work keeps rolling on