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Month: October 2015

EagleMed considers ground ambulance based in Ellis County

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eaglemedBy JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

EagleMed is looking into possibly expanding its ground ambulance services to Ellis County.

At Monday’s Ellis County Commission meeting, representatives from the medical transport service went before the commission with a brief presentation, introducing the commission to the company and previewing the possibility of expanded service in Ellis County.

EagleMed, at the request of the Great Bend Regional Hospital, has an ambulance stationed in Great Bend. Mike Simmons, EagleMed director of medical affairs, said last month they had approximately 10 critical care transfers from HaysMed using their ambulance based in Great Bend.

“What we’d like to do is put a truck here to not only support that one but give you a truck right here on site so that they can do those transports without waiting for that transport time from Great Bend to Hays,” he said.

Simmons stressed the company is not coming into Ellis County looking to replace the county EMS, instead they are wanting to form a partnership. He said they would transfer patients the local EMS units cannot provide.

Robert Nolan, Base Critical Supervisor for EagleMed Ground Ambulance, said EagleMed has the equipment that Ellis County EMS would like to have but it does not make sense for them to have based on the county coverage area, whereas EagleMed serves the whole of central Kansas.

The service would not cost the city or the county anything, and Nolan said EagleMed’s transportation fees are comparable to Ellis County EMS, although their billing system is tier-based, so the price increases with services used.

Simmons said they are still in the very early stages and will meet with the local EMS department and create a plan before moving forward. It could take six to nine months to purchase equipment and hire staff if a plan is approved.

The commission instructed EMS and Emergency Management staff to meet with EagleMed and provide the commissioners with a report.

In other business, the county:

• Approved a contract with Secure Energy Consultant to purchase 75-percent of the natural gas the county is expected to purchase over the next two winters.

• Approved a ban on all electric smoking devices in all public buildings and at all access points to the buildings.

• The public building commission approved the purchase of kitchen equipment at the jail for $83,149. The PBC also approved the purchase of a washer and dryer for the jail for $16,470.

Holy Family chess team brings home more hardware

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Pictured, from left, Tate Dinkel, Braydon Binder, Noah Bruggeman and Jensen Brull.

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LINDSBORG — Fresh on the heels of their Oct. 10 first-place finish at the TMP-Marian Chess Invitational and their third-place finish at Christ the King in Topeka, the Holy Family Elementary chess team placed first at the Smoky Valley Chess Tournament in Lindsborg on Saturday.

Representing HFE were fifth graders Braydon Binder, Noah Bruggeman, Jensen Brull and Tate Dinkel. In individual results, Binder took home a sixth-place medal with four wins, Dinkel finished in fourth with four wins, and Bruggeman claimed third place, also with four victories on the day. Brull had a career best five wins, landing him in second place to finish the day.

Overall, the team finished with a commanding 17 wins, which earned them the definitive K-5 division tournament championship in Lindsborg on Saturday.

KHP: October vehicle-deer crashes keep troopers busy

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In the fall, car accidents involving deer are more prevalent.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported on Tuesday troopers had investigated over 40 vehicle-deer crashes during the first 20 days of October.

Last week, the Kansas Highway Patrol and Kansas Department of Transportation issued an alert to drivers.

In a media release the agencies reported 15 percent of vehicle crashes last year were deer-related, and Sedgwick County had the most, with 422 deer-vehicle crashes in 2014.

Officials say if a deer jumps in front a car, it’s best to keep driving and avoid swerving, even if it means hitting the deer. KDOT also says to avoid a collision with deer in the first place, reduce speed in or around wooded areas and be watchful at dusk and dawn when deer are more active.

HPD Activity Log Oct. 19

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hpd actvity log sponsor hess bittel fletcher

The Hays Police Department responded to 8 animal calls and 11 traffic stops Monday, Oct. 19, 2015, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Suicidal Subject–2500 block Felten Dr, Hays; 12:41 AM
Criminal Damage to Property–300 block W 32nd St, Hays; 12 AM; 5 AM
Animal Call–1300 block 40 Hwy, Hays; 9:48 AM
MV Accident-Private Property–300 block W 7th Street St, Hays; 11:06 AM
Violation of Restraining Order/PFA–400 block E 13th St, Hays; 11:16 AM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–500 block E 7th St, Hays; 3:10 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–300 block E 15th St, Hays; 3:20 PM
Found/Lost Property–Hays; 5:04 PM
Animal Call–200 block W 6th St, Hays; 10:06 PM
Assist – Other (not MV)–2500 block Vine St, Hays; 11:09 PM

Marlin D. Bates

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Phillipsburg resident Marlin D. Bates passed away Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at the Phillips County Hospital in Phillipsburg at the age of 58.

Marlin was born March 5, 1957 in Norton, Kansas the son of Martin B. & Margaret D. (Long) Bates. He was employed at the Rangeland Coop in Phillipsburg.

He was united in marriage to Laura Lee Hill on February 14, 1991. She preceded him in death on October 26, 1996.

He was also preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Marvin Bates.

Survivors include three sisters, Marie Berls of Oberlin, Kansas, Martha Bennett of Meriden, Iowa and Marilyn Dial of Norton, Kansas; as well as, many nieces & nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. in the St. Joseph Catholic Church in New Almelo, KS. Inurnment will follow in the St. Joseph Cemetery, New Almelo.

Friends may sign the register book from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, October 23, 2015 at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Second Chance Homeless Pet Society, Norton, KS c/o Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, 1115 2nd Street, Phillipsburg, KS 67661.

Arloa Eulala Gingles Clark

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Corydon, Iowa, resident Arloa Eulala Gingles Clark passed away on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines at the age of 86.

Arloa was united in marriage to Oran Clark on November 27, 1947 in Phillipsburg, Kansas.   He preceded her in death in 1999.

Survivors include children: Regina Rae Hook (Don) of Centerville, Daren Allan Clark (Sandy) of Leeds, Alabama, Dale Jay Clark (Joetta) of Corydon, sisters in law, Geneva Gingles of Logan, Kansas, Pauline Clark of Davenport, Iona Clark of New Port Richey, Florida, 11 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren, 15 great-great grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Graveside services will be held at the Fairview Cemetery in Phillipsburg, Kansas at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, October 22, 2015 with Pastor Lew Van Der Wege officiating.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 a.m. until service time Thursday at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, 1115 2nd Street, Phillipsburg, KS.

Online condolences may be shared at www.olliffboeve.com.

Robert Eugene Barnhart

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Hays area resident Robert Eugene Barnhart, age 51, passed away in the early morning hours of Friday, October 2, at his home in Ellis County, KS.

Born July 14, 1964 to Jerry and Carol (Baker) Barnhart, he was raised in Phillipsburg, Ks, graduating from Phillipsburg High School with the class of 1982.

Following graduation, he was the first of his family to go on and obtain a Bachelor’s degree, attending Fort Hays State University for Sociology.

Robert began his career as a Case Manager, working within the special needs community. He then became a co-owner/administrator for Sensitive Home Care in Liberal, Ks. Following this, he became an engineer in the area oil fields before finally working with Nex-Tech Wireless just prior to his death.

Robert was preceded in death by his mother, Carol in 2004.

Survivors include his father, Jerry of Okmulgee, Ok; a brother, Roger Barnhart and wife, Michelle of Ashland, Ks; a sister, Reva Myers and husband, Aaron of Beggs, Ok; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends that loved him very dearly.

A Celebration of Life Service for Robert will be held Friday, October 23, 2015 at 3 p.m. in Frontier Park on the NE side of Big Creek in Hays. The family wishes for friends to simply bring pictures and memories to share of Robert.

Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, P. O. Box 563, Phillipsburg, KS  67661 is assisting with arrangements.

Study: Virus that hospitalized 500 children no deadlier than most cold germs

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By DAN MARGOLIES

Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City found that enterovirus D68 hit older kids hardest. CREDIT CYNTHIA PAGE / FLICKR -- CREATIVE COMMONS
Researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City found that enterovirus D68 hit older kids hardest.
CREDIT CYNTHIA PAGE / FLICKR — CREATIVE COMMONS

It turns out that enterovirus D68, which sent about 500 children to Children’s Mercy Hospital last fall and sickened hundreds of others across North America, is no deadlier than other common cold germs.

A study published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) says that while the virus was particularly aggressive and spread quickly, children with EV-D68 didn’t have a greater risk of death than kids who caught other viruses.

EV-D68 can cause difficulty breathing and mimic an asthma attack. Most affected patients will display symptoms of the common cold but some will develop more severe symptoms requiring medical attention.

At its peak about a year ago, Children’s Mercy was seeing 30 patients a day.

The CMAJ study compared 87 kids treated at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Ontario, Canada, with 87 kids who came down with other viruses at around the same time.

Its findings match up with those of Children’s Mercy researchers, who, in a paper published recently in the Journal of Clinical Virology, found that the mortality rate and the length of hospital stays were about the same for groups of kids with EV-D68 and groups of kids with other enteroviruses or rhinoviruses.

However, the Children’s Mercy study also found that children with a history of asthma or recurrent wheezing were more likely to be admitted to the ICU.

Dr. Jennifer E. Schuster of Children's Mercy Hospital co-authored a paper recently on enterovirus D68. CREDIT CHILDREN'S MERCY HOSPITAL
Dr. Jennifer E. Schuster of Children’s Mercy Hospital co-authored a paper recently on enterovirus D68.
CREDIT CHILDREN’S MERCY HOSPITAL

“Which is not incredibly surprising,” says Dr. Jennifer E. Schuster, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Mercy lead author of the paper. “A lot of these respiratory viruses hit asthmatics the hardest.”

“And interestingly, older children were more likely to be admitted to the ICU, which goes against what we’ve seen in the past,” she says.

Why that’s so, she says, remains a mystery.

Schuster says the median age of kids in Children’s Mercy’s pediatric intensive care unit was 7 compared with 4 ½ for kids not in the PICU.

“Usually, what we’ve seen with other respiratory viruses, it’s infants and occasionally toddlers who require ICU care. But in the EV-D68 kids, it was school-age kids, which is really unusual,” she says.

One other unresolved mystery is the link, if any, between EV-D68 and a mysterious neurologic condition known as acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), which causes a sudden onset of weakness in one or more arms or legs.

Three patients at Children’s Mercy developed the condition between mid-September and October of last year – about the same time the hospital was seeing lots of EV-D68 patients.

“Timewise, there seems there is some sort of link,” Schuster says. “Unfortunately, proving that is much more difficult.”

Dan Margolies is editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

Lincoln closure, $93M bond issue dominates discussion at Hays USD 489 meeting

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Hays Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Among the usual business discussed at the Hays USD 489 Board of Education meeting Monday night, one topic stood out – the upcoming bond issue that is currently slated for vote next year – with a new proposal to close Lincoln Elementary, 1906 Ash. Should the proposal be approved, administration offices and Westside School, currently housed at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th, would move into the former elementary school.

The bond measure presentation heard by the board, presented by HTK Architects, has a $93 million price tag, down from initial projections of $100 million. The latest proposal would bring the number of elementary schools in Hays to three, down from five just a few years ago.

But the board seemed less than convinced that turning the school into an administrative center would be the best course of action.

“It’s concerning,” said board member Sarah Rankin.

From a facilities stand point, however, it may make the most sense logistically, a consultant told the board.

“Our priorities should be classrooms,” said Zach Snethen, HTK project manager.

He said the goal is to maximize the buildings already in place, in order to curb new construction.

“Of these existing schools, Lincoln was the best candidate for that,” he said.

One of the main reasons for the new proposal is the site space at Lincoln is constricted, making necessary expansions at the space difficult and the space required for the administration would fit into the current building, with only minimal construction being needed.

The previous plan at Lincoln would have moved the cafeteria, along with a new gymnasium and storm shelter.

In speaking on the change of plan, Snethen said, “We had some difficulties with Lincoln,” to bring the building on par with other facilities through the district.

“It’s still a good building,” he said. “There is always cost efficiencies when you have good physical structures.”

If the proposal is accepted, the classroom space would be absorbed into the expansion at Roosevelt, and the Rockwell Center would be left vacant.

While the current layout remains tentative, the general cost of the facilities upgrades seems set into the $90 million to $100 million range, with many aspects of the plan being tied together, if all facilities are considered.

The numbers have “been vetted twice over now,” said Charles Smith, HTK partner.

The board must now consider how to proceed, with Snethen recommending the members discuss exactly what should be considered before plans are moved to the next stage.

Those plans will be discussed at the next BOE work session with HTK members in attendance.

The full presentation from HTK can be found here.

Theater group will offer tours of historic — and haunted — Hays

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Hays TheatreThe Hays Community Theatre will present Haunted Hays City Historic Tours this month.

The tours, which will begin and end at 116 E. 11th, began last weekend and will continue on Oct. 23 and 24.

This is a walking tour — no strollers or small children. It is not recommended for people with mobility or heart problems.

“You may encounter characters of questionable nature, haunting figures, farm animals and firearms,” according to organizers. “Historical accuracy attempted, literary license taken. Special thanks to local writers, The Ink Plots.”

Reservations are recommended by calling (844) HCT-5221. Tickets are $8. Tours begin at 7 p.m.

HAWVER: Keep an eye out for the effect of election changes

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The mechanics of a major change in state policy—the Legislature’s overhaul of city and school board elections, moving them from the spring in odd-numbered years to the fall of odd-numbered years—appear to have worked.

The local, closet-to-home, all-year-long politicians are going to see their election dates change in 2017, with only minor complications here and a bit of local procedure changing there, a legislative interim committee was told earlier this month.

The simple reason for the change is that the prime target—school boards members—are often elected in low-turnout spring elections that are heavily larded with schoolteacher, school employee and teacher union voters. Now, that’s annoying to most conservative legislators who believe that if you could just get more voters involved, that education industry influence would be diluted.

Diluting the vote of both the people with a monetary interest involved—school district employees—and the relatively small percentage of Kansans who actually know who their school board members are probably makes sense if your goal is to diminish the power of unions and those most involved with K-12 education, the parents.

But whether that yields, or will yield, better schools at a lower cost, well, that’s something that we aren’t going to know for several years, maybe a decade.

Don’t forget that at some point those nonpartisan elections are going to take on a partisan tinge. No, you won’t see the party affiliation of the candidates on the ballot as you do for, say, legislative elections, but look for the advertising for those candidates to get political. And, chances are that if you’re a voter in the fall local government elections, you’re probably going to remember the name of your party’s candidates.

Will a Democrat- or Republican-tilted school board or city commission change its responsibilities? Nope. But it will eventually shift the members’ view of just what they’re supposed to do and how they intend to govern the units of government that are closest to the voters.

Yes, the surprise is that the bill passed by last year’s session dealing with such a complicated issue took care of it all at once, with no need for revisiting the new law and touching it up here or there to make it work.

But the concept also provides an interesting little look at how well local elections have worked and whether expanding the potential voter turnout is a good thing or not.

Why?  Because that small percentage of voters who turn out for city and school board elections probably do so for a reason.

You gotta think that they vote because they know the issues and the problems facing city and school governance.

Voters who actually understand the local issues? Who take the time to learn what candidates want to do and to sort them out to give constituents the governance they want? That’s called enlightened self-interest.

The small percentage of those without a direct link to schools or government—say who don’t have children in schools or a zoning issue to pursue—do we actually know who is for what?

Now, we’d hate to have to take a little quiz before we get a ballot, but there’s gotta be an advantage to all of us if the voters in local elections actually know the issues at stake in that election.

Maybe there will be more turnout for fall elections of local officials. Maybe voters will study up for those elections and we’ll get better-run cities and schools. Or, maybe, higher turnout will dilute the votes of people who have high interest and knowledge about those local offices.

We’ll find out in the fall of 2017.

Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.

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