The Hays Medical Center Foundation is sponsoring free drive-through flu shots from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. The flu vaccine will be given to adults and children aged 6 months and older. Intranasal influenza vaccine (nose spray) is available in limited quantities.
It is recommended that children 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine.
People wishing to receive a flu shot should enter the north entrance of HaysMed on Canterbury Drive. You are asked to wear a short-sleeved shirt. No injections will be given to anyone allergic to eggs.
In conjunction with the event, HaysMed associates will be sponsoring an optional food drive. People are asked to bring a non-perishable food item which, will be donated to the Community Assistance Center.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A woman has died after police say she was struck by a vehicle on the side of Interstate 135 in southern Wichita.
The woman, who authorities say was 21-year-old Jasmine Love was killed Sunday morning.
According to Wichita police Sgt. Matt Lang, the victim had car trouble, and she and a passenger pulled off to the side of the road. Lang says the two exited the vehicle and another came up from behind and struck the driver, who was thrown into a ditch. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The other passenger was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Authorities say that a suspect in the crash turned himself on Monday morning. He was identified as Caleb M. Elliot, 26, according to online police arrest reports. He is being held for hit and run and vehicular homicide.
On Oct. 11, the Hays Police Department received two separate reports of multiple sexual assaults that had occurred over the last nine months.
Two female victims, one 28 years old and one 27 years old, reported they had been sexually assaulted by an acquaintance. The victims told police they were sexually assaulted at different times and different locations.
On Oct. 11, the Hays Police Department arrested 27-year-old Aaron Michael John Shippy on suspicion of two counts of rape and aggravated sodomy.
Shippy is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Janis DeBoer, executive director of the Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association, says the association was blindsided by the new policy. CREDIT DAVE RANNEY / HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
A recent change in Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services policy will reduce access to services that help the state’s frail elders avoid often-costly nursing home stays, according to directors of the state’s Area Agencies on Aging.
“This will have an impact on case management services, which we believe are pivotal when it comes to helping our customers remain in their homes,” says Janis DeBoer, executive director of the Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association. “Case management is the glue that keeps everything together.”
Late last month, directors of the 11 Area Agencies on Aging in Kansas learned that KDADS officials were enacting a policy that, effective Oct. 1, prevents the programs from spending more than 20 percent of their Senior Care Act budgets on case management.
At the same time, those case managers are being required to conduct more in-person visits.
“About 30 percent of our Senior Care Act budget is for case management,” says Karen Wilson, who runs Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging (AAA), a seven-county program based in Hiawatha. “So this will be a major reduction for us.”
Five Area Agencies on Aging, DeBoer says, are spending more than 20 percent of their Senior Care Act budgets on case management.
The Senior Care Act refers to government-funded in-home services for frail elders who typically have low or modest incomes and are not eligible for Medicaid.
Because they are not eligible for Medicaid, many of these seniors pay for a portion of the services they receive. Payments are based on a sliding scale.
“That’s why people like it — they don’t see it as welfare,” says Dave Geist, executive director at Southwest Kansas AAA, which is based in Dodge City and covers 28 counties.
In Kansas, the Area Agencies on Aging divide $6.7 million in Senior Care Act funds annually.
Last year case managers helped more than 4,500 seniors find and pay for the services they needed to continue living at home.
Area Agencies on Aging directors say they were surprised when KDADS proposed the change.
“We were completely blindsided by this,” DeBoer says. “We frequently invite KDADS people to our monthly meetings, and there was no mention of this. Next thing we know, we get an email telling us that draft policies were posted on the KDADS website.
“We provided written comments and indicated we would have some concerns if that was what they were going to do,” she says. “Then, we get another email, telling us the policies were final. We were flabbergasted.”
Download the letter to KDADS on policy changes
Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokesperson, said in an email that the agency “did not spring this on them (AAAs) out of the blue. We conferred closely with them, and they had to opportunity to provide feedback.”
In fact, she said, the department did not implement several of its proposals due to concerns that the Area Agencies on Aging directors raised.
De Rocha said KDADS made the change so that the Area Agencies on Aging can “put as much of the funding as possible into direct services to keep seniors living independently in their homes.”
But DeBoer says case management is a direct service that is “most crucial” in maintaining contact with seniors and making sure they’re getting the services they need to remain in the community.
“It’s as direct a service as you’re going to get,” she says.
The KDADS change also requires case managers to meet at least twice a year with each client known to be receiving Senior Care Act services in their regions. They’re also expected to call each of them at least twice a year.
“That may not sound like much, but that’s double what we’re required to do now for the same amount of money, or in some cases less money,” says Michelle Morgan, executive director at the Northwest Kansas AAA in Hays and president of the state Area Agencies on Aging Association.
For years, Morgan says, case managers have been able to visit their high-need clients more often than those with fewer needs.
“We’ve always been able to do that because there was flexibility built into the Senior Care Act,” she says. “You could transfer funds to wherever there was the most need. Now, there’s a cap and everybody has to be seen face-to-face at least twice whether they need to be or not.”
The loss of flexibility, she says, means the Area Agencies on Aging will take on fewer clients, ask their counties for more money or increase their fundraising efforts.
“We’ll do our best to minimize the effects of all this,” Morgan says. “But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us.”
The change in policy also blocks the Area Agencies on Aging from spending more than 20 percent of their Senior Care Act funds on administration.
“That’s not a big deal,” DeBoer says. “Nobody spends that much on administration.”
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
James Alvin Shaeffer died at the age of 87, September 7, 2015, at the Trego Manor Long Term Care in WaKeeney, KS.
Jim was born in Winsor Missouri to Albert and Mattie Shaeffer. He was the youngest of four children. He had three sisters, Pauline, Alberta and Faye, and one brother, Eugene.
He was preceded in death by his wife Rosalie, son Tim and parents, Albert and Mattie Shaeffer and brother Eugene Shaeffer. Jim joined the United States Navy in 1946 and was Honorably discharged after two years of service.
In 1949, he met Rosalie Dinkle, and they were married in 1950 at St. Michael Catholic Church Collyer, KS. They had three children, Tim of Cottage Grove, OR, Dave of Santa Clara, CA, and Emmy Jo of Milpitas, CA. They were proud grandparents of four grandchildren, Kimberly, Kristy, Jammie and Stephanie, eight great-grandchildren, Bryce, Bradley, Brynna, Braedyn, Tyler, Jessie, Sage and Lydia.
His working career consisted of the Union Pacific Railroad, school bus driver for the Trego Unified School District 208, Emergency Medical Technician for Trego County and the City Police Officer in Collyer, KS.
He leaves behind 3 sisters, Pauline, Faye and Alberta, sister in-law Rosemary Walt, brother in-law Bob Dinkel and wife, Lori, of Collyer, Leo Dinkel of Hays, brother in-law Tony Malsom and wife, Flossie, of Great Bend; many nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews; and great-great nieces and nephews. Jim was loved and will be sadly missed by his family.
Family and friends gathering is 7- 9 PM Friday, October 23rd, 2015 at Schmitt Funeral Home in Quinter, KS with a short message and time to share fond memories. A short service will be held at8:00 PM with Pastor Steve Dinkle of Hays, KS. A Mass will be held at 10:30 AM Saturday, October 24th, 2015 at St. Michael Catholic Church in Collyer, KS. Burial following the Mass.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
The announcement that Tu Youyou had shared in the this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been long awaited in China. It has repercussions for Western education and science publishers as well.
While Tu’s award constitutes the long-awaited first science Nobel Prize going to a Chinese researcher born, educated and conducting her research in China, a handful of Chinese have won prior science Nobel Awards. Three Han Chinese born in China won science Nobels but trained and worked in other countries. Two Chinese scientists were in China at the time of their award, but had conducted their research elsewhere. Three Americans of Chinese descent won science Nobels. And three non-Han Chinese born in China were trained in America where they also conducted their research.
Therefore an award to a Chinese researcher who was born, educated and did her work in China affirms to China that “we can do it!”
But the Chinese social media reaction has been mixed. One common puzzlement centers around “Why didn’t it go to a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences?” Unlike our National Academy of Science that is a group of dispersed researchers, the CAS is a large institution in Beijing (with additional branch campuses) that operates as a university, turning out more science graduates than any other university. It is a highly-funded high-pressure institute—its researchers will get Nobel Prizes soon.
But the extensive media chatter in China reflects a characteristic ranking mentality: the first prize should have gone to CAS or Tsinghua or Beijing University! So the Nobel committee must have intended to insult them. Chinese universities really are classified into first, second and third tier. So a researcher at a first tier school should have won. Rank and position in Chinese society are very important. There is almost a nationwide feeling that these schools have “lost face.”
But by splitting the award with two other researchers who also made major breakthroughs in treating worldwide diseases, this award was clearly objective. Even the science leadership in China makes a nod to this older applied research with references to passing the baton to the new era of research that most certainly will come from the recognized top-ranked schools.
Decades ago, China thought that the U.S. predominance in Nobel prizes in science was due to our educational curriculum. However, they discovered that the amount of science offered in American K-12 grades is pitiful, about one-third the amount of science studied in other developed countries.
China has long been sending over 100,000 thousand college students to America each year. Many study masters and doctoral level research. The increasing number of these graduates returning to Chinese universities have also brought with them the American system of open questioning. How would we set up an experiment to solve this problem? Here are some results; what do they mean? That is in stark contrast to the student memorization and teacher teaching-to-the-test that predominated in China. It is therefore ironic that China is attempting to move away from memorization for high-stakes tests while the United States has for the last 15 years rapidly moved toward a test-prep system.
Meanwhile, some Western publishers may have to curtail their corrupt practices toward Chinese researchers. For over a decade, China’s scientists have been rewarded for publishing in English journals. Asian author names are surpassing Western names in most key journals.
However, some Western journals are now attempting to coerce unnecessary fees for English services. Tu’s work on the anti-malaria drug artemisinin originated with Chinese medicine; but some journals will not accept research that has that origin despite following modern Western research criteria. And some Chinese researchers find their manuscripts immediately rejected without reading in the last half of each year, raising suspicions that some Western journals have set a quota on articles from China.
Tu’s award may help curb these corrupt Western publication practices.
In 2001, after their high school students scored high on international testing, one Asian Minister of Education said: “we train students to take tests but we do not get Nobel Prizes.” Fourteen years later, China and some other parts of Asia are making changes in education and research that ensure that Tu’s Nobel Prize will not be their last.
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a theft from a construction site.
Police reported a Hilti GPS robot valued at $25,000 was stolen from a trailer on a construction site trailer in inside a fenced area at Husener Elementary School, 1300 Norton,
The theft occurred between late afternoon on October 8th and the morning of October 9, according to police.
A lock was cut on the fence and the trailer was pried open.
In addition to the robot, several power tools were also taken.
The stolen items are property of W.C. Weins and Company of Hutchinson.
A total loss amount was not immediately available.
HARVEY COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County say that after an investigation, the Cox Cable truck involved in Monday morning’s fatal crash had been stolen in Hutchinson and the deceased driver was not a Cox employee.
The Sheriff’s office reported in a media release a truck driven by
a 20-year-old man from McPherson, was traveling on Dutch Avenue when the driver lost control and hit a bridge guardrail.
The rail impaled the truck and it flipped the truck over and into Sand Creek.
The driver died as a result of the accident.
Dutch Avenue was closed for several hours between Sandhill and Willow Lake Roads about six miles north of Newton due to damage to the bridge and the guardrail.
The name of the victim has not been released pending notification of next of kin.
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NEWTON – A Kansas man died in an accident on Monday morning in Harvey County.
The Sheriff’s office reported in a media release a Cox Cable truck was traveling on Dutch Avenue when the driver lost control and hit a bridge guardrail.
The rail impaled the truck and it flipped the truck over and into Sand Creek.
The driver died as a result of the accident.
Dutch Avenue was closed between Sandhill and Willow Lake Roads about six miles north of Newton due to damage to the bridge and the guardrail.
The name of the victim has not been released pending notification of next of kin.
Members of the HFD C-shift pose in their pink T-shirts; L to R Back Row – Captain Aaron Ditter, Firefighter Lucas Everett, Firefighter Allison Friesen, Firefighter Lyle Pantle. Front Row – Lieutenant Luke Scoby, Firefighter Justin Choitz.
City of Hays
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
According to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.
Members of the City of Hays Fire Department are joining firefighters across the nation in wearing pink to raise breast cancer awareness. Members of the HFD C-shift pose in their pink t-shirts; L to R Back Row – Captain Aaron Ditter, Firefighter Lucas Everett, Firefighter Allison Friesen, Firefighter Lyle Pantle. Front Row – Lieutenant Luke Scoby, Firefighter Justin Choitz.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The president of the Olive Garden restaurant chain has apologized to a Kansas City police officer after a restaurant employee asked him to leave because he was armed.
Officer Michael Holsworth says he was on duty and in uniform Sunday when the employee at the Olive Garden in Independence, Missouri, asked him to leave because guns aren’t allowed in the restaurant.
Holsworth says he was there to celebrate his birthday with his family. He says he thought the employee was kidding, but she wasn’t.
Olive Garden spokesman Rich Jeffers told The Kansas City Star that Olive Garden president Dave George called to apologize to Holsworth later Sunday.
Jeffers says the employee’s request was unacceptable and that the restaurant chain welcomes law enforcement.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials say no court order will be needed in the future to process birth certificate applications of children from same-sex couples who conceive by artificial insemination.
That assurance came in a court filing Monday in a federal lawsuit that challenges the Kansas ban on same-sex marriages. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling already cleared the way for such marriages in Kansas, but the judge wanted evidence the state was complying with that decision.
Kansas also objected to the American Civil Liberties Union even raising the birth certificate issue because none of the plaintiffs in the federal gay marriage case are seeking to become parents.
The state says nothing has been offered in this or other lawsuits to show paternity laws that recognize biological differences between men and women are unconstitutional.
Brian Hutchinson, a former Fort Hays State University student and instructor, is facing pricey medical bills after brain surgery, and to help lower the costs for him, his wife and two children, the Hays Arts Council will host a benefit exhibition from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, and noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Annex Gallery, 1010 Main.
Art in the exhibition is a donated mix of sculptures and paintings with a majority of donations coming from community members and FHSU faculty.
The art sales will benefit Hutchinson and hopefully alleviate a little financial pressure, said Brenda Meder, executive director of HAC.
“Brian is loved here at FHSU. He taught as an adjunct professor while Gordon Sherman was on sabbatical,” said Toby Flores, associate professor of art and design. “He has a beautiful family, and we are all pulling for him to have a full recovery. The exhibit is just a small way for us to show him how much he means to us.”
Hutchinson drove from Ellsworth to Hays each day to teach a variety of art methods to children during the HAC’s extensive summer art programs, said Meder.
“He finds a way for art to really connect for the kids. He is brilliant with what he is able to pull from them and make them blossom with their own skills and techniques,” she said. “Students are inspired by him.”
“He was an outstanding student and is an amazing person, father, husband, artist and teacher,” said Flores. “He took some sculpture classes with me, and although his major was printmaking, he was a very talented sculptor. At first I knew him as a student, but over the years I had the opportunity to know him on a more personal level.”
“It has always been a true pleasure to work with Brian. Not only is he a great art teacher, he is organized, professional and great to deal with,” said Meder. “He has a wonderful wife — she’s a gem — and two fabulous kids.”
“He is doing fine and his spirits are high,” said Sherman, professor of art and design.
“I’m hoping people will see this as an amazing opportunity to get out,” said Meder.
