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Stories by Flatland

prescription drugs

Take 5 For Your Health

Frustrated Jackson County Lawmakers Enact Their Own Prescription Drug Monitoring Plan Frustrated by the Missouri Legislature’s failure to enact a statewide prescription drug plan, Jackson County last week joined St. Louis and St. Louis County in enacting its own plan, hoping it will cut down on painkiller abuse and addiction. Missouri is the lone state…

Take 5 For Your Health

Need Disability Help In Kansas? Thousands Wait An Average Of Seven Years At his apartment in Olathe, Kansas, 42-year-old Nick Fugate catches up on washing dishes and remembers the 22 years he spent doing it at a local hotel, trying to stay on top of a never-ending-stream of plates, glasses and silverware. Nick recalls minor…

the start of the swimming portion of a triathalon

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For Some Ironman Triathletes, Kansas City Is Like Training In Hawaii For a handful of triathletes training in a pool at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, simply swimming laps is too easy. Instead, they’ve got their legs constricted so their arms do the work of dragging their bodies through the water. Kansas…

Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas Infant Mortality Rate Drops Kansas recorded its lowest-ever infant mortality rate in 2015, when 230 infants died before their first birthday, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. That put the state’s infant mortality rate at 5.9 for every 1,000 live births — a 28 percent improvement since 1996. Nationwide, the infant…

Wyandot Inc. offices

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Mental Health Centers In Wyandotte, Shawnee Counties Try New Approaches To Schizophrenia Two community mental health centers in Kansas hope a new program will help young people recently diagnosed with schizophrenia avoid its possible complications — a higher risk of unemployment, homelessness and incarceration and lower life expectancy — and achieve goals for school, work and…

Take 5 For Your Health

KU Researchers Aim To Improve Health Of Kansans With Disabilities University of Kansas researchers plan to use a $1.5 million federal grant to help Kansans with disabilities catch up to their non-disabled peers in several health categories. Jean Hall, director of KU’s Institute for Health and Disability Policy Studies, will lead a team of partners…

Watching Our Water title screen.

Watching Our Water | A Special Report

Watching Our Water is a five-part series in partnership with Harvest Public Media. Follow the entire series on Flatland through Friday, Sept. 23, and look for the half hour documentary that evening at 8 p.m. on KCPT. How does pristine water running off of snowpack high in the Rocky Mountains end up as a floating chemical…

planned parenthood administrative offices

Take 5 For Your Health

Planned Parenthood Adds Locations In Arkansas And Oklahoma Planned Parenthood Great Plains says it has joined forces with three Planned Parenthood facilities in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma, giving it a total of 12 health centers in four states. Formerly known as Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, the organization earlier this year expanded into central…

Elyse McKinnon

Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas Motorcycle Racer Endures Crash And Recovery Before Returning To Sport For anyone who knows Elyse McKinnon, it’s hard to imagine her not tearing down a race track on a motorcycle. But life without racing is just what the 30-year-old had to consider after a tragic crash in the summer of 2015 left her with…

Janice Smith

Take 5 For Your Health

Third Round Of Cuts Could Hit Kansas Children’s Cabinet Programs A Saline County, Kansas mom has a message for state officials wrestling with a difficult budget: Leave an autism diagnosis program alone. Allison, who wanted to be identified only by her first name to protect her family’s privacy, said a telemedicine program — funded in…

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