Healthcare

Dr. Khan

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…

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A volunteer helps a Tanzanian family

Picnic for Area Refugees Helps Newcomers Assimilate

When Ahmad al-Abboud brought his wife and five children to the United States from war-torn Syria, he carried with him a vision of this country — of scantily clad people kissing in the streets — he feared would clash with his conservative Muslim culture. But what he found upon settling in Kansas City in April…

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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…

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the start of the swimming portion of a triathalon

Take 5 For Your Health

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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Do You Need Extra Screening For Breast Cancer? The Picture Is Blurry

Many women have dense breasts, and they may benefit from other forms of cancer screening beyond mammograms. But none of the options is ideal, and the available data don’t make the decision easier.

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Illustration of man on ladder

Has The Human Life Span Hit The Ceiling?

An analysis of global demographics indicates the maximum human life span may have peaked at around 115 years. That’s despite medical advances and the occasional person who lives a few years longer.

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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…

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Wyandot Inc. offices

Take 5 For Your Health

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…

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Roy Jensen and key cancer center staffers

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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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…

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