News & Issues
KC Checkup: seven questions for Carrie O’Toole
Like many people in rural, medically underserved areas, many of Kansas’ Native American groups struggle with health problems. The four largest groups – the Iowa, Kickapoo, Prairie Band Potawatomi, and Sac and Fox – live in isolated reservations in northeastern parts of the state. In August, the tribes held a Kansas Tribal Health Summit, the…
Missouri and Kansas rank among lowest spending states for tobacco prevention
States continue to spend a miniscule portion of the billions of dollars they collect annually in tobacco revenues on smoking prevention and cessation programs, according to a new report by six leading health organizations. Missouri spent $76,314 on tobacco prevention in the latest fiscal year, the report says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
AARP to urge passage of Kansas caregiver legislation
When diabetes began to steal her mother’s legs and vision three decades ago, Lawrence resident Judy Bellome and her family joined the ranks of thousands of caregivers across Kansas. Bellome had advantages others don’t, but even so she found it challenging. “If I hadn’t been a nurse — and my sister is a physical therapist…
KU Medical Center group recruits rural teens for health jobs
In the last two years Seth Nutt has traveled to nearly every corner of Kansas, introducing rural students to health care professionals. During trips to Goodland, Hays, Highland, Girard, El Dorado, Harper and Seward County, Nutt and others from the Area Health Education Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center have met with 1,000 high schoolers…
What to donate this holiday season? Depends.
Before you put together a donation for your local food pantry, take a moment to consider which items are needed most. It’s not the classic stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie you might find on your own kitchen table this holiday. The biggest needs, local food pantry organizers say include more practical items: canned vegetables,…