Earl R. Drake, 93, passed away on April 8, 2016 at the Cedar Village Care Center in Ness City, KS. He was born on May 27, 1922 in Pittsburg, KS, the son of Ralph and Sophrona (Talley) Drake.
He was an engineer of railroad maintenance with KC Southern. He retired after 40 years. He married Dorothy (Leikam) on November 25, 1940 in Ness City. She died April 7, 1996. He married Wilma (Munch) on Tuesday, September 2, 1997 in Ness City. She survives.
Other survivors include stepsons, Kenneth Wasinger, Ness City, Layne Wasinger, Ness City, Alan Wasinger, Ness City; stepdaughters, Linda Cox, Hanston, Lavonne Mishler, Hays, Luciann Ogden, Canon City, CO; sister, LaVeta Moeller, Quincy, IL.
He was preceded in death by his parents; first wife Dorothy; brother, Merrill Drake; stepsons, Jim and Verlyn Wasinger; stepsons-in-law, Rick Cox and Tom Cole; grandsons, Justin Cox and Tanner Mishler; and great-granddaughter, Courie Cox.
Friends may call at Saturday, April 9, 1 – 9 P.M. and Sunday April 10, 10 A.M. – 9 P.M. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home.
Rosary will be Sunday, April 10, 7 P.M. at the funeral home.
Funeral Service will be on Monday, April 11, 2016, 11 A.M., at the Sacred Heart Church, Ness City.
Burial in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Ness City.
Memorial contributions may be given to the Sacred Heart Cemetery Fund, or Comfort Warriors in care of American Legion.
Hays, Kansas – Carol June Brethour, age 86, died Friday, April 8, 2016, at Good Samaritan Society of Hays.
She was born August 31, 1929, in Lake City, Florida to Milo and Knox (Barris) Thomas. She married John R. Brethour Sr. on August 16, 1964, in Lake City, Florida. He died May 29, 2007.
She was teacher and a homemaker. She grew up in Lake City, Florida and graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secretarial Science and graduated from University of Florida with a M.S. Degree in Elementary Education. Carol taught Language Arts in Jr. High and High School at Lake City, Florida and she taught Business and Beginning Accounting at Fort Hays State College. She moved to Hays in the early 1960’s. She became a member of the First United Methodist Church, and joined a women’s group called Naomi Circle. She was a avid reader, bridge player and was a member of the ACVL Bridge Club. She enjoyed being part of the Smokey Hill Country Club. She was also a member of the PEO woman’s group.
Survivors include one son, John R. Brethour Jr. and his fiancé Jean Leechan; and one grandson, John R. Brethour III.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; two brothers, Milo Thomas and James “Bones” Thomas.
Services are 11:00 A.M. Monday, April 11, 2016, at the First United Methodist Church Hays, Kansas. Burial will be later in the week at the Memorial Cemetery in Lake City, Florida.
Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Sunday, at Cline’s Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601 and from 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. Monday, at the First United Methodist Church
Memorial to Doctors Without Borders in care of Cline’s Mortuary of Hays. Condolences can be sent via e-mail to [email protected].
Margaret E. “Peggy” Heather, 84, Hays, died Thursday, April 7, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Society in Ellis.
She was born October 17, 1931 in Springer, New Mexico the daughter of Milo Orville and Margaret Sarah (Browne) Chaffee. On July 24, 1952 she married Donald Smith in Estes Park, Colorado. He died January 12, 1966. She later married Jack R. Heather on August 4, 1974 in Hays. He died July 26, 2011.
She was an elementary school teacher, teaching in Downs and Sanford, Kansas before moving to Hays and teaching fifth grade at Wilson Elementary School. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Hays, the United Methodist Women, Daughters of the American Revolution, Ellis County Historical Society, and the Hays Arts Council. She sang in the church choir for many years and loved to play the piano, paint paintings, do crafts, and paint ceramics. She enjoyed playing cards, board games, her bridge club, gardening, and her dogs. She especially loved spending time with her many friends and family and being a teacher.
Survivors include one son; Stanley Smith of Fairbury, Nebraska, two daughters; Nora Myer and husband Spencer of Sacramento, California and Elizabeth “Betsy” McCreery of Hays, two step daughters; Brooke Adams and husband Dennis of Darby, Montana and Dawn Heather of Ft. Collins, Colorado, two sisters; Catherine Chaffee of League City, Texas and Martha Tompkins and husband Don of Pittsburg, Kansas, a sister in law Dortha Lee Chaffee of Owasso, Oklahoma, fourteen grandchildren; Emily Tyler, Erin Weber, Jennifer Rinard, Sarah Woods, Russell Weber, Heath Walz, Adam Walz, Beth VanVleck, Heather Smith, Christopher Binder, Amber Harvey, Shelby Englert, Meagan Englert, and Jesse Englert, and numerous great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands Donald and Jack, a daughter Linda Miller, three brothers Russell Chaffee, James Chaffee, and John Chaffee, and two sisters; Elizabeth Fritz and an infant sister Sarah Chaffee.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 am on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at the First United Methodist Church, 305 W. 7th, Hays. Burial will be at 2:30 pm at the Browns Grove Cemetery in Burdett, Kansas. Visitation will be from 5:00 pm until 7:00 on Monday at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street, and from 9:30 am until service time on Tuesday at the church.
Memorials are suggested in Peggy’s memory to the First United Methodist Church or to the Jack and Peggy Heather Scholarship Fund at Fort Hays State University in care of the Hays Memorial Chapel, 1906 Pine Street, Hays,KS 67601. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
Irene Dorothy (Ebersole) Brown passed away peacefully at her apartment in El Dorado on April 7, 2016. She was born October 3, 1920 on a farm near Conway Springs, KS, the daughter of Arthur & Adra Ebersole.
Her family moved to Wichita in the mid-twenties. Irene married Vernon H. Hanan on December 31, 1939. They had four children, Vern Wayne, Sherron, Steven and Debra. She and Vernon moved to Ness City, KS in 1946 where their children grew to adulthood. She married Dr. J. Paul Brown on December 10, 1966 at the Methodist Church in Ness City, KS. They later moved to Wichita, KS. Some of her favorite past-times were reading, sewing, playing bridge, arts & crafts and especially oil painting.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Vernon Hanan and J. Paul Brown; son, Vern Wayne; granddaughter, Christina Marie Hanan Sommer; and brothers, Leo and Harvey Ebersole. She is survived by her children Sherron Rein, Steven Hanan, Debra Zogleman; step-daughter, Paula DeSchepper; grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be given to Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market St., Wichita, KS 67202.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 PM Monday, April 11, 2016 with Memorial Service at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, 207 North Pennsylvania Ave., Ness City, KS
The Science Olympiad team recently competed at the statewide competition on April 2. Advisers Lynn Zimmerman and Beth Schiel accompanied a total of 15 students on the team to the competition at Wichita State University.
The competition drew 13 small schools and 16 large schools. Hays High was considered a small school team.
There was a total of 23 events with teams of two competing in each event. Teams placing in the top three received a medal. The results are listed below.
Air Trajectory – seniors Nikki Vuong, Jared Thom, 8th
Anatomy and Physiology – seniors Nikki Vuong, Sylina Zhang, 5th
Astronomy – sophomores Dawson Rooney, Sara Rohleder, 3rd
Bridge Building – senior Trenton Potter, sophomore Dawson Rooney, 11th
Cell Biology – senior Sylina Zhang, junior Sierra Eichman, 3rd
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A southern Kansas prosecutor says he’ll seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing his girlfriend and two of her relatives in 2014.
The Wichita Eagle reports Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced during Vinh Van Nguyen’s arraignment Friday that he’ll ask jurors to consider execution as punishment if Nguyen is convicted.
Nguyen is charged in the slayings of 45-year-old Tuyet Huynh, her 20-year-old daughter, Trinh Pham, and 21-year-old Sean Pham.
An attorney for 42-year-old Nguyen waived his client’s right to have the charges read aloud in court, and a plea of not guilty was entered on Nguyen’s behalf.
Nguyen has been found mentally competent to stand trial.
Nguyen immigrated to the U.S. less than 10 years ago.
The Herndon Speech Language-Hearing Clinic at Fort Hays State University and the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association will sponsor the fourth annual “Run/Walk to Help Children Talk” from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 23, on the FHSU Quad near Rarick Hall.
The event consists of a 5K run or walk as well as a one-mile fun walk, which will begin and end at FHSU. Registration includes games for children, sponsored by Delta Zeta sorority, raffle prizes and a lunch.
Registration is $10 for children 3 and over, $20 for adults and $15 for FHSU students. The early registration deadline is Thursday, April 14. After this deadline, all prices go up by $5.
Proceeds will benefit children’s scholarships for services at the Herndon Clinic and clinic materials.
For more information, contact Breanna Taylor, assistant clinical coordinator and program specialist, at (785) 628-5260 or at [email protected].
GRAY COUNTY – One person died in an accident just after 5a.m. on Saturday in Gray County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Ford Expedition driven by Ramon Saenz Humerto, 30, Brighton, CO., was northbound on 17 A Road just south of Cimarron.
The SUV went left of center, the driver over corrected and the SUV entered the east ditch.
The driver over corrected again and the SUV rolled multiple times.
Humerto was transported to Western Plains Medical Center where died.
He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Orthopedic Physician and Surgeon Dr. Alex DeCarvalho; from from Hays Orthopedic Institute at HaysMed, with the topic of “Orthopedics” by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
“Introduction to Excel” and “Intermediate Excel” will be offered on the same day this April by the Management Development Center at Fort Hays State University. The workshops will be at 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, in the Memorial Union Trails Room.
Scott Jones, instructor of business, and Felix Albl, a tourism and hospitality management senior, will facilitate.
“Excel can be a very effective way of organizing and analyzing information,” said Sabrina William, director of the MDC. “If used correctly, the functions taught in these workshops will prove to be extremely valuable to an organization’s success.”
The half-day sessions will help participants boost productivity, simplify data management and streamline everyday tasks using the 2013 version of Excel. During the morning session, participants will take a tour of the basics before learning how to build a worksheet and utilize formulas and functions. This session will also cover how to use charts, graphs, fonts, borders, shading and more.
The afternoon workshop will cover when to use macro, how to debug a macro and how to create and manage a PivotChart while utilizing key code shortcuts, data exchange operations and linking.
Participants completing one or both workshops will receive a completion certificate.
Workshops cost $119 each or $200 for both sessions. Hays Area Chamber of Commerce members are eligible for a 15-percent discount for a single session. The encouraged application deadline is Friday, April 8.
Registration is available online at www.fhsu.edu/mdc. To learn more about the workshops or to receive discount codes, contact Conni Dreher at (785) 628-4121 or at [email protected].
Participants will need to bring their own laptops or reserve one by contacting Dreher. A limited number are available.
Photo by iStock The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced a program that would require participating hospitals to repay some money for knee and hip replacements if the average cost of a procedure is too expensive due to complications. The Kansas City area, Topeka and Wichita are on the list of participating metropolitan areas.
By MEGAN HART
Medicare patients likely won’t notice the difference, but their doctor may have more skin in the game when it comes to their outcomes if they get joint replacement surgery at many of Kansas’ largest hospitals.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced a program that would require participating hospitals to repay some money for knee and hip replacements if the average cost of a procedure is too expensive due to complications.
Knee and hip replacements are the most common inpatient surgery procedure for patients covered by Medicare, the government’s health insurance program primarily for people 65 and older.
The replacement program covers 67 metropolitan areas and about 800 hospitals nationwide, according to CMS. The Kansas City area, Topeka and Wichita are on the list, with almost all hospitals in those areas participating.
In Missouri, Cape Girardeau, Columbia and the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas are listed.
Patients still can choose their hospital and where they receive rehabilitation care after the surgery, said Kim King, administrative director of care coordination for Shawnee Mission Health.
The only difference will be that starting in 2017, patients who select a “high-quality” rehabilitation facility won’t have to stay in the hospital for three nights, as Medicare usually requires, she said. In 2014, Medicare spent more than $7 billion for about 400,000 joint replacements — or an average of about $17,500 per procedure.
The cost and quality of joint replacements varies widely across the country, however.
Medicare can pay an average of anywhere from $16,500 to $33,000 for a knee or hip replacement, depending on where it is performed, and some hospitals have three times as many complications as others, according to CMS.
Hospitals won’t be penalized in the first year, according to CMS, but after that, they will need to repay some of their reimbursements if complication rates for joint replacements are too high.
The penalties will rise from 5 percent in the second year to 20 percent in the fifth year.
Hospitals with low complication rates will be eligible for increases in their payments, with the amount rising over the five years of the program.
The target rates differ depending on whether the patient has other chronic conditions that would make significant complications more likely. Patrick Conway, CMS principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer, said the payment plan is designed to encourage hospitals and facilities such as rehabilitation centers to better coordinate their care, improve patient outcomes and limit costs.
“One beneficiary said it best when she described that what she cared about for her hip replacement was getting out of the hospital as quickly as possible without an infection or complication and then being able to go back to playing with her grandkids and gardening,” he said in a news release.
“The model incentivizes a system that aligns with her goals and the goals of so many beneficiaries.”
King said Shawnee Mission Health’s two hospitals are well-prepared for the new system.
Staff members currently work with rehabilitation facilities, home health agencies and patients to clarify treatment goals and recovery procedures, she said.
“We were already working on this, so for us, this doesn’t present any major challenges,” she said. “When the patient leaves here, those expectations are set.”
Providing additional coordination and follow-up can improve outcomes, King said.
Since 2011, Shawnee Mission Health has provided “transition coaches” for patients with conditions like heart failure and found readmissions went down when they checked on patients after sending them home, she said.
The coaches began following up with joint replacement patients last year, she said.
Brenda Dykstra, vice president of business and strategic development at University of Kansas Hospital, said the CMS initiative is “consistent” with current efforts to improve coordination when a patient leaves the Kansas City, Kan., hospital.
Most joint replacement patients receive care from a rehabilitation hospital, a skilled nursing facility or a home health agency after the surgery, she said, and some use multiple services.
“This work will continue so we can enhance the coordination of care when a patient leaves the acute care hospital following their surgery,” she said in an email.
Gaylee Dolloff, president of Health Partners of Kansas, which is part of Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, said the hospital has a successful knee and hip replacement program but will continue to look for any changes it could make as it collects data for CMS. CMS has been working with hospitals to prepare for the new model,
Conway said. Ideally, the result will be fewer complications and less health care spending, he said. “We want hospitals to be successful under this model because success means that Medicare’s beneficiaries will receive better-quality care,” he said.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 37-year-old Kansas man has pleaded guilty to charges connected to a 1999 sexual attack and stabbing.
Thirty-seven-year-old Jibri Liu-Kinte Burnett of Olathe pleaded guilty Friday in Wyandotte County to attempted first-degree murder and rape.
Authorities say that in August 1999, an unidentified victim found repeatedly stabbed was rushed to a hospital. Doctors recovered the attacker’s semen from the victim and entered it into a federal criminal database.
Wyandotte County prosecutors say years passed before the semen sample was proven to be a genetic match to Burnett. He was arrested last May and will be sentenced next month.
Fort Hays State University Sustainability will host “Earth Week” Monday, April 18 to Saturday, April 23, to expand on its annual Earth Day celebration.
The events of “Earth Week” aim to raise awareness of sustainability, pollution, climate change and other problems affecting the environment and how to solve them.
All events are free and open to the public.
Events:
Monday, April 18:
Endangered Species
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Quad and in the Memorial Union
Tuesday, April 19:
Botany and University Activities Board Planting
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Albertson Hall garden plot
Wednesday, April 20:
Arbor Day Tree Tours
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Quad
Arbor Day Tree Planting
Noon on the Quad
Thursday, April 21:
FHSU Citizen’s Climate Lobby
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union lobby
Climate Advocate Workshop
6 p.m. Memorial Union Ballroom
Pesticides and Pollinators Seminar (RSVP to 785-628-9430)
7 to 9 p.m. at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street, Hays
Friday, April 22:
Earth Day event fair
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Quad
Yoga on the Quad
Noon on the Quad
Saturday, April 23:
Great Plains Conference on Animals and the Environment
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Forsyth Library
For more information, contact Andree Brisson at (785) 628-4641 or at [email protected].
Earl R. Drake, 93, passed away on April 8, 2016 at the Cedar Village Care Center in Ness City, KS. He was born on May 27, 1922 in Pittsburg, KS, the son of Ralph and Sophrona (Talley) Drake.
Hays, Kansas – Carol June Brethour, age 86, died Friday, April 8, 2016, at Good Samaritan Society of Hays.
Margaret E. “Peggy” Heather, 84, Hays, died Thursday, April 7, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Society in Ellis.
Irene Dorothy (Ebersole) Brown passed away peacefully at her apartment in El Dorado on April 7, 2016. She was born October 3, 1920 on a farm near Conway Springs, KS, the daughter of Arthur & Adra Ebersole.
Submitted
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Orthopedic Physician and Surgeon Dr. Alex DeCarvalho; from from Hays Orthopedic Institute at HaysMed, with the topic of “Orthopedics” by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
FHSU University Relations and Marketing
FHSU University Relations and Marketing