Alex Smith
Stories by Alex Smith
Don’t Like Doctor Visits? Medical Giant Offers Patients DIY Health Tools
When Amanda January was growing up in Gardner, Kansas, regular doctor’s visits weren’t a regular thing at all. “When I was a kid we almost never went to the doctor,” January says. “I was rarely sick. My siblings were rarely sick. We just didn’t go.” She’s now a dancer and Pilates teacher who works hard…
Why Scientists Are Falling For A Blind, Albino, Binge-Eating Cavefish
Bob Caviar has seen his share of heavy eaters. He’s the owner of Papa Bob’s Bar-B-Que in Kansas City, Kansas, and the creator of a sandwich he’s christened “The Ultimate Destroyer.” “This wasn’t designed as a challenge,” Caviar says. “It was really designed to feed families.” But the football-sized sandwich, which contains four and a…
Does Zapping The Brain With Electricity Boost Creativity?
Would you wire your head to a battery if you thought it might help boost your brain function? A quick Internet search turns up lots of videos of at-home tinkerers with electrodes strapped to their heads and nervous looks on their faces. Inspired by anecdotes and a handful of studies showing it can temporarily improve…
Can Restoring Parks Lead To Better Health In Wyandotte County?
Editor’s note: A male in Wyandotte County can expect to live about seven fewer years than a male in Johnson County. A female in WyCo can expect to live nearly six fewer years than her JoCo counterpart. About 21 percent of residents of WyCo consider themselves to be in poor or fair health; fewer than…
Johnson County Has More Binge Drinking But Wyandotte County Has The Bigger Problem
Editor’s note: A male in Wyandotte County can expect to live about seven fewer years than a male in Johnson County. A female in WyCo can expect to live nearly six fewer years than her JoCo counterpart. About 21 percent of residents of WyCo consider themselves to be in poor or fair health; fewer than…
Kansas’ Infant Mortality Problem Pushes Experts To Rethink Their Approach
Editor’s note: A male in Wyandotte County can expect to live about seven fewer years than a male in Johnson County. A female in WyCo can expect to live nearly six fewer years than her JoCo counterpart. About 21 percent of residents of WyCo consider themselves to be in poor or fair health; fewer than…
A Growing Gap Between Wyandotte And Johnson Counties: Primary Care Physicians
Crossing to Health A male in Wyandotte County can expect to live about seven fewer years than a male in Johnson County. A female in WyCo can expect to live nearly six fewer years than her JoCo counterpart. About 21 percent of residents of WyCo consider themselves to be in fair or poor health; fewer…
Worlds Apart: When it comes to health, side-by-side Kansas counties are starkly different
At her home studio in Westwood, Kansas, yoga instructor Marilyn Pace leads a class of 5-to-8-year olds. With the help of songs, games and other kid-friendly teaching methods, she guides her small students through poses like the cobra, the triangle and the downward-facing dog. Tatjana Alvegard takes her daughter, Kaya, to Pace’s classes regularly. “I…
KC Researchers Say Zebrafish May Hold Clue To Reversing Deafness In Humans
Early hearing loss was hard for Rob Jefferson to accept, even though it runs in his family. “No, it couldn’t have been me,” he says. “It wasn’t my hearing. Everybody was mumbling.” The 56-year-old resident of Belton, Missouri, started losing his hearing when he was 17 years old, the result of premature degeneration of the…
Swimming Pool Parasite Sickens Three In Johnson County
A disease caused by swimming pool parasites has been diagnosed in some Johnson County, Kansas residents and led to the temporary closure of a pool in Overland Park. Cryptosporidiosus, or crypto, is spread by contact with waste, contaminated food or water,or infected people. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, nausea, and vomiting. “At this time,…