Health
Take 5 For Your Health
Water Task Force Leaning Toward Sales Tax Proposal A group appointed to study funding sources for Gov. Sam Brownback’s 50-year water plan is leaning toward proposing a dedicated sales tax. Earl Lewis, assistant director of the Kansas Water Office, presented the preliminary results of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Monday at the annual Kansas…
Take 5 For Your Health
Missouri Takes Step To Hold Down Health Insurance Rates, But Will It Be Enough? When individual health insurance plans go on sale on healthcare.gov, many Missourians will probably be more than a little shocked to see some rate increases as high as 40 percent. Similar increases are popping up nationwide, but different states have different…
New KC Mental Health Center Hailed As National Model
Supporters of a new mental health crisis center in Kansas City hailed the facility as a model for the rest of the state — and beyond — during its ceremonial opening this afternoon. “Other communities in Missouri are going to have their eyes on this project because they want to emulate it,” said Mike Nietzel,…
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…
Playing Catch-Up with Missouri Mental Health
When Missouri’s second mental hospital opened in the late 19th century, State Lunatic Asylum No. 2 in St. Joseph was designed to provide lots of natural light and fresh air. Yet as war and economic calamity frayed the nation’s psyche, over-crowding swamped the hospital’s lofty goals. The census of the St. Joseph facility peaked at…
A Force for Refugees
It was during daily walks from her lecture hall to hospital rotations that Sophia Khan first experienced poverty. Born to a wealthy family in Karachi, Pakistan, Khan was a second-year medical student in her homeland when she discovered that the unsheltered groups waiting outside the hospital were poor people wanting to be near their loved…
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…
Four-Legged Friends Bring Aid, Comfort to Veterans
Brittany lives from day to day with relentless anxiety, depression, nightmares, insomnia and a fear of crowds. She’s a 30-year-old U.S. Army veteran, a combat surgical nurse who did stints in South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan while in the service from 2005 to 2013. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Brittany’s PTSD stems from combat…
Homestead Turned Children’s Shelter to Open in October
A Northland organization that serves victims of abuse and neglect is poised to open an enlarged children’s emergency shelter, a project that comes with a backstory of success, generosity and a few ruffled feathers. Synergy Services plans to open its new children’s center at 2501 N.E. 46th St. in Kansas City, North, on Oct. 13….
Take 5 For Your Health
Regardless Of Sentence, ‘Medicaid 23’ Plan To Appeal An attorney for the so-called “Medicaid 23” says his clients will appeal their convictions on trespassing charges, even though they face no jail time. A Cole County, Missouri, jury on Wednesday acquitted 22 clergy members of obstructing government operations but found them guilty of trespassing when they…