KDHE

TOPEKA – The National Weather Service issued a Heat Advisory Wednesday afternoon until 7 p.m. for Hays.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) advises people to use caution during the extreme heat that is anticipated to last for several days.

“The best defense against heat-related illness is prevention,” said KDHE Chief Medical Officer Dr. Greg Lakin. “Staying cool and making simple changes in fluid intake, activities and clothing during hot weather can help you remain safe and healthy.”

According to the National Weather Service, heath indices are forecasted to be from 100 to 109 degrees in many parts of Kansas through Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that more than 600 people in the United States are killed by extreme heat every year.

People who face the highest risk of heat-related illness include infants and young children up to four years of age, adults over age 65, people who have chronic medical conditions (such as heart disease or obesity), those taking certain medications and people who work or exercise in extreme heat.

The CDC has some tips for preventing heat-related illness, including:

Stay Cool: Choose lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing. Stay in an air-conditioned place as much as possible. Taking a cool shower or bath or moving to an air-conditioned place is a good way to cool off. Use your stove and oven less to maintain a cooler temperature in your home.

Schedule Outdoor Activities Carefully: Try to limit your outdoor activity to when it’s coolest, like morning and evening hours. Rest often in shady areas so that your body has a chance to recover.

Pace Yourself: Cut down on exercise during the heat. If exertion in the heat makes your heart pound and leaves you gasping for breath, STOP all activity. Get into a cool area or into the shade, and rest, especially if you become lightheaded, confused, weak or faint.

Wear Sunscreen: Sunburn affects your body’s ability to cool down and can make you dehydrated. If you must go outdoors, protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and by putting on sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher 30 minutes prior to going out. Continue to reapply it according to the package directions.

Do Not Leave Children in Cars: Cars can quickly heat up to dangerous temperatures, even with a window cracked open. While anyone left in a parked car is at risk, children are especially at risk of getting heat stroke or dying.

Drink Plenty of Fluids: Drink more fluids, regardless of how active you are. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Avoid sugary or alcoholic drinks—these cause you to lose more body fluid. Also avoid very cold drinks, because they can cause stomach cramps.

Replace Salt and Minerals: Heavy sweating removes salt and minerals from the body that need to be replaced. A sports drink can replace the salt and minerals you lose in sweat. If you are on a low-salt diet, have diabetes, high blood pressure, or other chronic conditions, talk with your doctor before drinking a sports beverage or taking salt tablets.

Keep Your Pets Hydrated: Provide plenty of fresh water for your pets and leave the water in a shady area.

Know the Signs: Learn the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses and how to treat them.

Use a Buddy System: When working in the heat, monitor the condition of your co-workers and have someone do the same for you. Heat-induced illness can cause a person to become confused or lose consciousness. If you are 65 years of age or older, have a friend or relative call to check on you twice a day during a heat wave. If you know someone in this age group, check on them at least twice a day.

For more information on dealing with extreme summer hear, visit the CDC web site at https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Local emergency personnel responded to KVC Wheatland Hospital on Tuesday after a patient threatened to jump off the roof.

According to the Hays Police Department, emergency responders were dispatched, just before 8 p.m. to the 200 block of West Seventh, to reports of a juvenile threatening to jump off the roof.

The Hays Police Department responded, along with personnel from the Hays Fire Department, Ellis County EMS, Ellis County Sheriff’s Office and the Fort Hays State Police Department.

KVC staff were able to gain the cooperation of the 17-year-old female and she returned to the hospital uninjured at approximately 8:37 p.m., according to the Hays PD.

The 200 block of Eighth was shut down for approximately 40 minutes during the incident.

Wild West Festival VIP tickets! Brats! An awesome cooler! And FIREWORKS!!!!!!

KDHE

TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a boil water advisory for the city of Natoma located in Osborne County.

Customers should observe the following precautions until further notice:

• Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
• Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
• Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
• Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled. Supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested. Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
• If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.

The advisory took effect on June 27, 2018 and will remain in effect until the conditions that placed the system at risk of bacterial contamination are resolved. KDHE officials issued the advisory because of a line break resulting in a loss of pressure in the system.  Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.

Regardless of whether the public water supplier or KDHE announced a boil water advisory, only KDHE can issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.

Restaurants and other food establishments that have questions about the impact of the boil water advisory on their business can contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s food safety & lodging program at  [email protected] or call 785-564-6767.

For updates online, go to:

• the KDHE news website at https://khap2.kdhe.state.ks.us/NewsRelease/nr_index.aspx,
• the KDHE Facebook page at https://Facebook.com/KDHEnews or
• the KDHE Twitter page at https://Twitter.com/KDHE.

The Love Doesn’t Hurt program provided by Jana’s Campaign was featured in Rural Health Models & Innovations, a national collection of successful rural health programs and interventions maintained by the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub).

The Love Doesn’t Hurt: Teen Gender Violence and Prevention Program provides prevention education to middle and high schools and youth organizations, to reduce gender and relationship violence by promoting healthy relationship behaviors, ultimately to create a culture of strong respect among adolescents. Jana’s Campaign provides this secondary education programming mainly in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, but various components of the work have been done in nine states. The mission of Jana’s Campaign is to provide quality educational programming that prevents gender and relationship violence by delivering specialized prevention strategies and curricula designed to prevent violence, build healthy relationships, and create new social norms.

Since the inception of the secondary education program, Jana’s Campaign has impacted 490 middle and high schools and more than 53,000 students in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. Jana’s Campaign consistently collaborates with FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) programs, FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), and both the Kansas State Board of Education and the Nebraska State Board of Education to implement their prevention efforts in area schools.

Christie Brungardt, co-founder of Jana’s Campaign and Jana’s mom, stated, “By providing prevention efforts in middle and high schools, adolescents can better understand healthy relationships, making unhealthy relationships less likely and encouraging peers to intervene when witnessing a situation of abuse.”

The Love Doesn’t Hurt: Teen Gender Violence and Prevention Program was selected by RHIhub because of its innovative services and impact on rural communities. To read the full project summary, visit: www.ruralhealthinfo.org/project-examples/1013.

RHIhub is a national online information center on rural health issues, funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. Their website includes over 12,000 resources specific to rural health. Rural Health Models & Innovations features hundreds of successful programs that are serving rural residents across the nation.

— Submitted