Mental Health

Take 5 For Your Health

Douglas County, Kansas, Officials Say Jail Plan Will Help Inmates With Mental Health Issues The “special management” unit on the third floor of the Douglas County Jail is where county officials place inmates with medical needs, including mental illness. It’s next to the jail’s maximum security unit, separated by a single wall. Both units have…

Read More >
state officials tour the hospital

Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas Issues Request For Proposals To Privatize Osawatomie State Hospital Kansas is seeking a private partner to operate Osawatomie State Hospital under a proposal that would allow the contractor to shift more than half the hospital’s beds to other parts of eastern Kansas. A request for proposals to operate Osawatomie State Hospital was posted Nov….

Read More >
Nick Sanford with his youth football players

Healing the Invisible Wounds of Combat

It’s the serviceman who beats himself up about being unable to save a dying buddy. Or the truck driver who follows orders to run over children in the road, because they might be placed there to facilitate an ambush of a convoy. While it has been more than half a century since the United States…

Read More >
visitors in lobby of crisis center

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,…

Read More >
old state hospital building in St. Joe

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…

Read More >

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…

Read More >
Dr. Fasbinder

Take 5 For Your Health

Prairie Village Dental Surgeon Treats All, No Matter Their Ability To Pay John Fasbinder’s dental office was busy on a recent Tuesday. Three employees helped in the reception area, answering phones and clicking away at computers. Hygienists tended to patients in three dental chairs in the main clinic. Fasbinder and his associate, Seth Cohen, flitted…

Read More >

Take 5 For Your Health

Appeals Court Throws Out Challenge To Missouri’s Execution Protocol A legal challenge to Missouri’s execution protocol brought by four taxpayers has been rejected by the Missouri Court of Appeals. In a decision July 26, the appeals court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the taxpayers’ claims just days after they filed their lawsuit. The lawsuit…

Read More >
picture of inside of the bus

Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas schools, churches try new ways to deliver summer meals Delivering meals to low-income people is a long-standing way to improve nutrition, but a project in Iola Unified School District 257 will bring the whole diner. Kathy Koehn, nutrition and wellness coordinator at USD 257, said students taking vocational classes in the district are working…

Read More >
car factory

Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas Program Intensifies Job Training For Adults Receiving Food Assistance After two years of being homeless and moving through jobs, James Radlund says he’s ready for something better. Radlund, 46, of Pittsburg, is one of the early participants in a new Kansas Department for Children and Families job training program. He said it had been…

Read More >

Local Storytelling. Fact-Based Reporting. Trustworthy Sources.

Help support the nonprofit media landscape in Kansas City and provide a platform for underrepresented voices across the region.