Heartland Health Monitor
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
KU Cancer Center Makes Bid To Join Elite Club
Four years ago, former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius returned home as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services with a prize the University of Kansas Cancer Center had been seeking for years: certification as a nationally recognized center through the National Cancer Institute (NCI). But amid the hoopla, KU Cancer Center Director Dr. Roy Jensen…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…