We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Month: February 2014

DeBakey Heart Institute sponsors 14th annual free CPR training

Posted on

It might take only a few minutes, but for the victim of sudden cardiac arrest, it can be the event of a lifetime.

HMC haysmed

Sudden cardiac arrest strikes about 250,000 adults in the United States annually. More than 95 percent of its victims die before reaching a hospital – many because they don’t receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation in time. Defibrillation is a process in which an electronic device gives an electric shock to the heart to help restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

To help improve those odds, the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute at HaysMed and the Hays Medical Center Foundation will hold its 14th annual Staying Alive Hands Only CPR Training on Saturday, March 1, at the Center for Health Improvement at Hays Medical Center. During the day, the Institute hopes to train more than 200 people for free in its Family and Friends CPR course.

The 90-minute class is designed for members of the general public, 8 years and older; and is not for those seeking professional certification. More than 30 certified instructors and volunteers will donate time to the event.

Classes in adult and pediatric CPR will be offered at 9 and 11 a.m. To register, call (800) 248-0073, Ext 5500, or (785) 623-5500 or go to www.haysmed.com/cprtraining.

“If more people know how to perform CPR, it naturally increases the probability that victims of cardiac arrest would receive CPR more timely—when it can still make a difference,” said Bryce Young, vice president of operations at HaysMed.

When performed immediately, CPR may double a cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival by adding critical minutes to a patient’s life. With CPR, breathing and chest compressions circulate oxygenated blood to the brain, heart and other vital organs until defibrillation is performed.

Cardiac arrest survival is directly linked to the amount of time between the onset of sudden cardiac arrest and defibrillation. Chances of survival drop 7 percent to 10 percent with every minute of delay. Brain death starts to occur in just four to six minutes.

Seventy-five to 80 percent of all sudden cardiac arrests happen at home, so knowing how to perform CPR can mean the difference between life and death for a loved one, according to the American Heart Association.

— Submitted by Hays Medical Center

Grounded by ethics, guided by integrity

Posted on

Handshakes and smiles, saved-for-the-occasion anecdotes and ample libations opened the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce annual banquet — a three-hour celebration of the business community and the men and women who make Hays run.

Ron Fields is news and information director at Eagle Communications.
Ron Fields is news and information director at Eagle Communications.

Making business run is something the featured speaker knows all about. Mayo Schmidt is a farmer to the Nth degree — companies he has helmed feed the world.

Schmidt, 56, turned the world of commodities on its ear since 2000, engineering a hostile takeover of a much-larger rival in the ingredients industry and taking a floundering company from ruin to riches — an American businessman in Canada forcing his will upon the corporate world.

Scratch that, a Hays businessman.

Schmidt is an alum of Thomas More Prep-Marian High School, where his father, Marion, was the longtime football coach. Marion and his wife, Donna, are the proprietors of Blue Sky Miniature Horses outside Hays.

Mayo Schmidt walked the crowd through the highs and lows of his journey: watching his massive ships of grain arrive in India only to be hauled away on the backs of the poor; days of despair as financial deals appeared to be hopeless; convincing investors his plan was worth the risk of massive amounts of capital; a machine gun tap on the window on a dark country road as Pakistanis searched for bombers; consoling a mother who had lost a son to an industrial accident; signing the pink slips of more than 2,000 workers as he reorganized a failing company; leading that company back from the brink.

Two words repeatedly rang out from Schmidt’s address to the Hays business community — ethics and integrity.

Mayo Schmidt was the featured speaker at this year's Hays Area Chamber of Commerce banquet.
Mayo Schmidt was the featured speaker at this year’s Hays Area Chamber of Commerce banquet.

Judging from his own tales, and accounts in the Canadian media, one should not confuse either of those words with benevolence.

“He earned a reputation as a hard-ass along the way,” Canadian Business wrote in a 2009 article naming Schmidt the nation’s top CEO.

Ethics. Integrity.

These are tall words. Few can claim never to have fallen short of their meaning.

During Schmidt’s address, my thoughts, as they often do when faced with enormity, went to my children. In a world too often filled with doom and gloom, every parent in the Memorial Union ballroom had a reason to be optimistic.

Mayo Schmidt, progeny of the northwest Kansas classroom and family farm, ran a multibillion-dollar company. He traveled the world, making decisions that impacted not only people, but entire socioeconomic systems. He sat across from world business and political leaders as a peer. He left Victory Gate and become a titan.

And he used those lessons learned in Hays as the guiding principles behind every decision.

Mayo Schmidt was not satisfied with being good. He sought great. And he both challenged the Hays business community to strike out on the same climb and offered a sense of optimism that peak was attainable.

Ethics. Integrity. The words were still ringing in my ears as I kissed my 6-year-old daughter’s forehead when her head hit her pillow last night, still ringing when I tussled the 9-year-old boy’s hair and told him “Bed. Now. Love you.”

The Hays area created Mayo Schmidt and countless others who refused to stop at good in the pursuit of great.

She can be great. He can be great.

And that opportunity is good enough.

Ron Fields is news and information director at Eagle Communications.

Related story: Chamber hands out annual honors.

Truck ablaze at Salina gas station (VIDEO)

Posted on

Salina Post

SALINA — A fire destroyed a truck at Snack-Atak, at the intersection of Centennial and Magnolia, at approximately 8 p.m. Thursday.

The Salina Post is in the process of gathering details on the cause and aftermath of the blaze.

Caution: Video Contains Expletives Video by: Who Hernandez

Science Cafe schedules events for spring 2014

Posted on

FHSU University Relations

“Evolutionary economics” — the human tendency to risk money for foolish or frivolous reasons — will be the topic up for discussion at Fort Hays State University’s 49th Science Cafe, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Gella’s Diner, 117 E. 11th St, Hays.

Trey Hill
Trey Hill

Presenter Dr. W. Trey Hill, assistant professor of psychology, will guide the discussion, “Evolutionary Economics: What Darwin Might Tell Us About the Motivations to Make Risky Financial Decisions,” and ask the question of why we sometimes spend money carelessly.

“We gamble, take unnecessary risks, try to ‘one-up’ our neighbors and friends, and even attempt to impress the opposite sex by spending more than we have,” Hill said. “There is compelling evidence that we are all born with the tendency to take risks — financial or otherwise — in very specific situations.”

At 7 p.m. March 12 in the Robbins Center on the FHSU campus, the Science Cafe will celebrate the 50th meeting in the series with science journalist Chris Mooney, who will present “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe in Science.” The discussion will be on the concept of denialism, or why people won’t accept scientific facts for political or personal reasons.

Free and open to the public, the regular meetings are designed to provide a free flow of information about a certain topic, with discussions mediated by a presenter.

Kan. universities could join regional online group

Posted on

ComputerTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill before the Kansas Legislature would allow the state’s universities to streamline efforts to offer online courses to out-of-state students.

University officials testified in support of the bill Thursday in the Kansas House. It would allow Kansas to join a regional group of states that would establish standards for online courses and authorize the member states to provide online courses in each state.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports current regulations require each school must get approval from each state where it enrolls students.

The bill would allow the Kansas Board of Regents to participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, or SARA.

State public universities estimate participating in the group would save $529,000 each year.

 

HPD activity log, Feb. 6

Posted on

AOBB-Logo-Main11

The Hays Police Department conducted 17 traffic stops and received three animal calls on Thursday, Feb. 6, according to the HPD activity log.

Abandoned vehicle, 1300 block Eisenhower, 4:27 a.m.
Motor vehicle accident/hit and run, 500 block West Fourth, 8:19 a.m.
Motor vehicle accident, 1000 block East Eighth, 8:21 a.m.
Motor vehicle accident/private property, 22nd and Vine, 8:40 a.m.
Wildlife incident, 1200 block East 22nd, 8:49 a.m.
Animal cruelty/neglect, 3700 block Vine, 9:32 a.m.
Motor vehicle accident, 2200 block Vine, 9:39 a.m.
Telephone/mail scam, 2200 block Virginia, 12:30 p.m.
Motor vehicle accident, 400 block East Eighth, 12:34 p.m.
Snow removal, 2900 block Roosevelt, 1:50 p.m.
Counterfeit currency/documents, 1000 block East 27th, 3:06 p.m.
Abandoned vehicle, 1700 block Haney, 3:53 p.m.
Motor vehicle accident/hit and run, 200 block Castillian, 3:56 p.m.
Unattended death, 1700 block Sunset, 2 a.m.
Assist, 1000 block Fort, 4:42 p.m.
Motor vehicle accident, 27th and Augusta, 4:48 p.m.
Traffic stop, 4300 block Vine, 10:09 p.m.
Intoxicated subject, 100 block West 12th, 11:24 p.m.

February is month to be heart-healthy

Posted on

This month when you recognize loved ones with Valentines is also a good time to remember the importance of health practices to keep your heart in good shape.

Linda Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences with Kansas State Research and Extension.
Linda Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences with Kansas State Research and Extension.

By following a few simple guidelines, you can improve your health and lower your risk of coronary heart disease, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

The National Institutes of Health say more than one million Americans will suffer heart attacks this year.

You probably already know that you increase your chances of heart disease if you are overweight, have diabetes or don’t get regular exercise.

But the three major risk factors, the ones that send your chances soaring, are smoking, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol.

Fortunately, you can do something to decrease these threats. If you smoke, don’t think it’s too late to quit. By stopping now, your risk of coronary heart disease will decline dramatically during just one year.

Giving up smoking also reduces the risk of mouth, throat and lung cancer and diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema.

Since you may have high blood pressure without knowing it, you should have it checked periodically by a health professional.  High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for stroke and a major contributor to other coronary heart diseases.

Losing weight, getting more exercise, reducing the amount of alcohol, table salt and sodium you consume may be enough to lower blood pressure.  If not, medication prescribed by a physician may be called for.

Like high blood pressure, a high blood cholesterol level increases your chance of heart disease. If your blood cholesterol is over 200, it may be wise to work with your doctor to try to bring it down.

The first step may be to limit fats in your diet.  Choose very lean meats and low-fat dairy products and reduce fried and processed foods and high-fat baked goods. Keep all fats, particularly saturated fats, below 30 percent of a day’s calories.

Your doctor may recommend that you get regular exercise to improve your cholesterol numbers, too.  However, since cholesterol can be made by your body, diet and lifestyle changes may not be enough for some people — they may need medication to control their cholesterol level.

Let February be a time to give yourself a Valentine, by doing what’s best for your heart.

Linda Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Cargill adds ‘textured beef’ wording to labels

Posted on

Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 7.29.46 AM (AP) — Cargill has added wording to its ground beef package labels to say whether they include the product that’s been called “pink slime.”

The Lincoln Journal Star says the company announced in November that it would be adding the labeling. Cargill says bulk packages and some ground beef chubs bear labels that say, “Contains Finely Textured Beef.”

Another company that makes the product, Beef Products Inc., sued ABC news in September 2012 after ABC aired a story that used the phrase “pink slime.” The company says ABC’s story misled consumers into believing the product is unhealthy and unsafe. The company says it lost business and had to close plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa. It kept open a Nebraska plant.

Beef Products Inc. is based in South Dakota.

 

2 horses found shot to death in Douglas County

Posted on

STULL, Kan. (AP) — Douglas County sheriff’s deputies are investigating after two older horses that got loose were found shot to death.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the horses apparently had been wandering south of Stull for several days before being found dead this week.

Darrel Harden says he owned one horse and was keeping the other for an acquaintance. He doesn’t live on the 400-acre property near Lawrence and was unaware the horses were loose until being called when they were found dead less than a quarter mile from his land.

Harden said each horse appeared to have been shot once in the chest area, probably at close range.

He says the horses were in good health but were considered pets because of their ages.

 

KSBDC offers online business plan tool

Posted on

By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

small business KSBDC

The Kansas Small Business Development Center has created an online tool to help small businesses create a business plan. The center released a soft launch of the tool early in January, but it now is promoting the tool to the public.

Ron Newman, one of several regional directors for the KSBDC, told Hays Post the reason the tool was created was because of the need.

“We want to reach more people and provide them assistance,” Newman said. “We want to help people in business and those who are interested assistance by helping them create a stronger foundation, develop ideas and create a format.”

Newman, whose office is headquartered at Fort Hays State University, noted one of the unique segments of the tool is the brainstorming segment.

“There isn’t a business plan product out there that has a brainstorming segment,” Newman said. “This one has a (brainstorming) segment that allows you to capture your thoughts before you even begin writing your business plan.”

Other features of the business plan tool include 26 professional videos and a direct link to the KSBDC office for questions or comments via email.

“Our goal is just to put (the tool) out there and assist them in getting stronger.” Newman said. “Some may come to us for assistance and become stronger because of it, some may go directly to a bank and some may go to other resources. Some may never come to anybody. They may just use (the tool), develop it as and aid, and  go out and start.”

The tool is free to use and can be accessed here.

 

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File