Health
When Going Under the Knife Does Not Mean Surgery
Chef Educator Rachel Ciordas deftly sliced collard greens into a ribbon-like chiffonade as students from the University of Kansas School of Medicine watched with a degree of awe typically reserved for an episode of the Food Network’s “Chopped.” After Ciordas demonstrated how to peel, chop, or grate the raw ingredients, the future physicians donned aprons…
Caregiving Squeezes Households Between Young and Old
Melissa Johnson knows her life is hardly unique. The Oak Grove, Missouri, woman cares for her infirm 72-year-old mother, who lives in her own home nearby. She calls her mother daily. She brings dinner to her several times a week. Johnson, who coordinates care with her aunt, a team of therapists, and a nurse, is…
Feeding Tubes and Defibrillators
Let’s begin with two stories about the growing and important field of bioethics. The first is from Ryan Pferdehirt, the newly named Flanigan Chair in Bioethics at the Kansas City-based Center for Practical Bioethics. A hospital once asked him to consult on a bioethics case in which a son thought his desperately ill, hospitalized mother…
After Tuberculosis Outbreak, Wyandotte County Parts Ways with Health Director
The director of the Wyandotte County Public Health Department is no longer with the agency, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. It comes after turmoil during the handling of the major tuberculosis outbreak, shown by emails obtained by the Kansas News Service. Elisha Caldwell had been head of the local health department while an outbreak of TB grew…
Why You Might Want to Donate Your Brain to Science
Organ donor programs do not include brains, creating a tissue shortage that impedes research into Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and concussions.
Bird Flu has Hit Cows in Kansas and Sparked Precautions in Missouri. Here’s What that means for You
Bird flu has hit cows in Kansas and sparked precautions in Missouri. Scientists say the more it spreads, the more chances it has to become a problem for people.
Environmental Justice: Wyandotte County Seeks Solutions
Advocates in Wyandotte County are seeking environmental justice for communities paying the health care price for decades of industrial pollution.
Kansas City-area Politicians Pick Between War on Drugs or Treatment When Spending Opioid Settlement Cash
Local cities and counties are spending windfalls from legal settlements with opioid companies. While some prioritize law enforcement, others focus on treatment.
A Community Struggle to Maintain a Full-Service Grocery
The Sun Fresh grocery at Linwood and Prospect avenues in Kansas City is struggling to sustain itself in the face of neighborhood homelessness and drug use.
St. Luke’s Merger with a St. Louis Hospital System Could Mean Bigger Medical Bills in Kansas City
Some industry experts say the recent merger of St. Luke’s Health System of Kansas City with BJC Health System in St. Louis may lead to higher medical bills.