Farthing will assume her duties as president-elect on July 1 and will transition to president in July 2020.
The Kansas Health Information Management Association has over 1,000 members and is an organization of health information management professionals who provide guidance, best practices, education and advocacy for quality healthcare to improve health record quality in the effective management of health data and information.
Farthing has been an associate of HaysMed since 2003.
STERLING, Kan.— Rice County Undersheriff Chad Murphy was shot and wounded Monday trying to execute a warrant against a man who absconded from the corrections system. He remains hospitalized.
A short time later, Sheriff Bryant Evans was shot in a subsequent standoff at a nearby house that ended early Tuesday with two men dead. Evans has been released from the hospital.
Law enforcement officers from across Kansas have used social media to ask for prayer and show support.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors, Rice County Sheriff’s Office. We have a large amount of Deputies in Rice County assisting with this situation.
— Reno County Sheriff (@RenoCoSheriff) April 30, 2019
Thinking of our brothers and sisters at Rice County Sheriff’s Office. Hang in there. We are here for you. 😪
— SG County Sheriff (@SGCountySheriff) April 30, 2019
Thinking of our brothers across the state, in Rice County, KS who were shot last night while serving their community. Prayers for a full and speedy recovery!
— Lenexa Police (@LenexaPolice) April 30, 2019
Please keep Rice Co Sheriff Bryant Evans and Undersheriff Chad Murphy in your prayers as they recover from gunshot wounds sustained this evening.
— Chief Fred Farris (@GoddardChief) April 30, 2019
CAMBRIDGE, Neb. — Tri Valley Health System Board of Directors has appointed Jessica Fisher as the new Chief Executive Officer and will begin duties on May 6.
A search was conducted in April for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and attracted 23 candidates. After three rounds of interviews including final interviews with input from senior leaders and the physicians, the board made the final decision to offer the CEO position to Fisher who was viewed unanimously by the Board as the best person to fill the permanent CEO position.
Fisher has a master’s of health care administration from Bellevue University, and she earned a bachelor’s and associate’s degrees from Fort Hays State University. She also has a certification in Leadership, Human Resource Management and is a certified Phlebotomist through the American Society of Clinical Pathology.
Fisher comes to Tri Valley with a wealth of health care experience. Most recently, she was the Director of Operations at Valley Hope Association, headquartered in Jessica’s hometown of Norton. Valley Hope is an organization that provides residential and outpatient addiction treatment in seven states and 16 service locations. Prior to that, she was the Human Resources and Education Director at Cheyenne County Hospital in St. Francis and was the Inpatient Clinical Services Manager at Hays Medical Center, while providing services to Pawnee Community Hospital in Larned, Kansas and St. Rose Medical Pavilion in Great Bend.
Fisher strongly believes in effective healthcare systems providing quality patient care with positive patient outcomes along with delivering cost-effective and affordable healthcare services.
“We will continue to focus on Tri Valley’s mission to be a model of continued excellence as a regional integrated health care system committing ourselves to provide quality, progressive care,” she said. “I am excited for this opportunity and the chance to work together with such a progressive and professional organization.”
Cambridge is located in south-central Nebraska, between Lexington and McCook.
— News release
Joyce Ilene Halderson Gibbs was born March 11, 1933 to Orval and Freda (Horn) Halderson in Simpson, Kansas. She died on April 27, 2019 at the Trego County Long Term Care at the age of 86.
Joyce was baptized May 7, 1933 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glasco, Kansas. She was confirmed at St. Paul’s on April 14, 1946. The church and her faith were a strong part of her life. She enjoyed teaching Sunday School and Confirmation classes. She loved WELCA activities and Bible Studies. She served on the Church Council at Zion Lutheran in Phillipsburg.
Joyce grew up in Glasco, Kansas where she was a graduate of Glasco High School class of 1950. On December 24, 1950 she married John W. Gibbs. After John returned from Korea they moved to Phillipsburg where she was a long time resident. Joyce worked in the billing and purchasing department for KN Energy, retiring after 22 years of service. In retirement Joyce enjoyed traveling in their camper with John. Together they visited many parts of the United States.
Family was important to Joyce. She and John celebrated 67 years of marriage before his death in 2017. She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved her pets, especially cat Jazzy and dog Sam whom she regarded as her ‘extra children’. She loved visiting with anyone in person or on the phone, and have a cup of coffee.
Joyce was an avid coffee drinker and loved a good cup (or several) throughout the day. While she did like a regular cup of black coffee, her favorite was a strong cup of Jamaica Me Crazy blend. She was an avid bridge player and was a member of several different bridge groups.
Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, her husband John and a son, Martin John Gibbs.
She is survived by a son, Randy and wife Amy of WaKeeney, Kansas; a daughter Melissa McKee and husband Chris of Abilene, Kansas; by 5 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren; extended family and a many friends. Her quick wit and warm smile will be missed by all who knew and loved her.
Memorial service will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 4, 2019, at Zion Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, Kansas. There will be no visitation as cremation was chosen.
Memorial contributions may be made to Zion Lutheran Church. Donations made to the church may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
Susan H. Benkelman, age 73, of WaKeeney, passed away Monday, April 29, 2019, at Hays Med Center, Hays.
Services are pending with Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to Chapter CT P.E.O. Donations to the organization may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
January 25, 1965 – April 26, 2019
An obituary and services are pending with Plumer Overlease Funeral Homes.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A lawmaker has resigned under pressure after an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint found he engaged in “ethical misconduct” by sending flirtatious text messages and repeatedly pursuing a relationship with a legislative employee whom he supervised.
Missouri democratic Rep. DaRon McGee, of Kansas City, submitted his resignation late Monday. It was printed in the House Journal, which was publicly available Tuesday, along with an investigatory report from the House Ethics Committee detailing the allegations against him and recommending a series of punishments.
Reached by phone Tuesday by The Associated Press, McGee said: “I’m not making any comment.” He referred questions to an attorney, who did not immediately respond to a message.
McGee is the latest of at least three dozen state lawmakers across the country who have resigned or been expelled from office since 2017 following allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Dozens of additional accused lawmakers have faced other repercussions, such as the loss of legislative leadership positions or committee assignments.
Most of those allegations against lawmakers were made public after October 2017, when claims of sexual misconduct against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement. Many state legislatures have responded by updating their sexual harassment policies.
The Missouri House updated its sexual harassment policies in 2015 after then-Speaker John Diehl Jr. resigned after acknowledging he had exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with a House intern. The case against McGee also involved text messages.
The House committee said it subpoenaed electronic communications between McGee and the employee and received a series of text messages between 2017 and 2018, including several instigated by McGee that were “flirtatious in nature and gave the appearance” he was “attempting to establish an amorous relationship.”
The report said McGee made repeated communications over the course of at least 10 months that were not welcomed by the employee and then took actions which resulted in the termination of the person’s employment. The committee also said McGee “repeatedly delayed and obstructed” its proceedings, which began after it received a report about his conduct on Jan. 7.
The House Journal indicates McGee initially submitted a resignation letter to the House speaker at 6:55 p.m. Monday saying that he had accepted employment in Kansas City that would cause him to return full-time to his district. The letter said he was resigning effective Thursday.
Immediately beneath that letter was printed the House Ethics Committee report recommending that McGee be censured because of his conduct toward the employee, be removed from all committee assignments, resign as assistant minority leader and pay $7,408 of restitution to the House for the investigation against him. If McGee remained in office, the committee recommended that he be subject to expulsion if he didn’t comply with the other sanctions or if another sexual harassment complaint was brought against him.
The journal then contains a second resignation letter from McGee, submitted at 7:45 p.m. Monday, saying he was resigning immediately. That letter also cited a full-time job in Kansas City while making no mention of the investigation against him.
McGee declined to comment to the AP about the job cited in his resignation letter.
Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr issued a statement Tuesday describing McGee’s behavior as “inexcusable” and adding that he had “broken the trust placed in him” and abused his position.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat, said McGee wasn’t worthy of remaining in public office.
“By holding our colleagues accountable for their actions, we can begin to change the culture of an institution where behavior such as this has been tolerated for far too long,” Quade said Tuesday in a written statement.
Earlier in April, the House Ethics Committee found that Republican state Rep. Rocky Miller had engaged in “unbecoming” conduct by creating a false rumor that another lawmaker was having an affair with a House employee. An outside investigation concluded that Miller’s actions weren’t severe or pervasive enough to qualify as sexual harassment under federal or state law but may have violated the House’s sexual harassment policy. The ethics panel did not recommend any further action against Miller.
What was likely to be a three-day, maybe five-day veto session of the Kansas Legislature got more complicated last week with the Kansas Supreme Court decision that abortion is a right of Kansas women under the state constitution.
That high court decision which pronounces a woman’s decision to have an abortion a right under the state constitution sends the issue back to Shawnee County District Court for consideration of a bill that outlaws a specific procedure used in more than 90 percent of abortions in Kansas.
Nothing changes immediately. The second-trimester abortion procedure specifically outlawed by the bill remains legal until the specifics of that dilation and evacuation procedure are considered by the district court, and then likely challenged at the Court of Appeals level and then likely by the Kansas Supreme Court. That could take a year or so, but that provides time for the Legislature to try to change the state constitution to prohibit nearly all abortions in Kansas.
It’s a hot-button political scrap that may well dominate the planned short veto session of the Legislature, becoming an issue that will cast a shadow over assembling a budget, considering expansion of Medicaid eligibility, possibly a tax bill, and then getting out of town.
It’s still not clear when the Legislature will consider a resolution to allow voters to determine whether abortion will be banned in Kansas after a fetus is detected, but there are already House and Senate resolutions introduced earlier this year that might just get pulled out of a committee for debate in either chamber. That’ll make the veto session longer—count on it—if either the House or Senate gets the measure to the floor for debate.
And, for you political/procedural junkies, each chamber’s resolutions are strongly, near-emotionally written. If one or the other gains the two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate—the governor doesn’t have a role in the process—that public vote would be taken at the November 2020 general election when every House and Senate seat is on the line.
So, the wrap-up session is going to be emotional, and every decision on the abortion issue is going to be dissected by anti-abortion and abortion-rights legislators, and the lobbying groups which support them.
Delay the issue until next session for debate in an election year? Take fast action this session while the issue which smoldered for four years in courthouses has emerged?
Anti-abortion activists may not be sated by leadership assertions that the issue is too complicated to be thoughtfully dealt with in the few days left this session. Abortion-rights activists have apparently won on the Kansas constitutional issue, but the widely used abortion procedure’s battle in court may influence votes, depending on how it is described both in debate to get it on the ballot and the inevitable campaigning on the issue ahead of a statewide referendum.
Oh, and how lawmakers vote to put—or not put—the constitutional issue before voters will be a hot-button campaign issue in their election or reelection bids.
Yes, it gets complicated, this one issue that the Supreme Court has put into debate with just a few days left in the session.
***
And, don’t forget those two other issues that the Supreme Court will leave its fingerprints on this year, adequacy of funding for public schools and just who gets to nominate the next judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals to succeed retired judge Patrick McAnany…
All of a sudden, it seems, that black robe gang becomes the focus of the legislative session. It gets complicated when the court and the Legislature interact…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will host its first state-sanctioned high school wrestling tournament for girls only next year.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association board voted Friday to add girls wrestling to its competitions.
The association’s executive director, Bill Faflick, says the first girls state wrestling tournament will be held in Salina on Feb. 27, 2020.
High school girls are already allowed to wrestle, but they’ve had to join boys’ teams. More than 375 high school girls wrestled on boys’ teams across Kansas this winter.
The change means that boys and girls will still meet during the regular season, but they must participate in their respective regional and state tournaments.
Faflick says they hope the decision leads to more female participation in high school wrestling across Kansas.
By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
May is a busy month in Hays as school calendars come to a close and graduation ceremonies are scheduled. Outdoor sports pick up and the two city swimming pools open for the season.
Melissa Dixon, Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, has a preview of some of the spring activities.
An updated calendar of events is available on the Hays CVB website www.haysusa.net.
GOVE COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 3a.m. Tuesday in Gove County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Volvo semi driven by Daniel B. Messenger, 46, Henderson, TN., was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Kansas 198 exit.
The driver did not see an eastbound 1995 Chevy pickup driven by Ralph D. Hembree, 71, Inglis, FL., that was having trouble and driving on the shoulder at a low rate of speed. The semi side swiped the pickup.
Hembree was transported to Gove County Medical Center. Messenger was not injured and not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Geneva M. (Noren) Christensen was born on the family farm near Oberlin, Kansas to David Theodore and Esther Amanda (Carlson) Noren on October 6, 1925. She passed away peacefully at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on April 27, 2019, at the age of 93.
Geneva attended a one-room school house near her family farm for grades 1-8. She then “batched” in town on a weekly basis for all four of her high school years. She graduated with highest honors from Decatur County High School in 1943. In Geneva’s own words: “I was born and raised in a Christian home and always loved Jesus but never committed my life to Him until I was 12 years old. A great burden was lifted from my soul at that time. The Lord has patiently led and guided me through the years. Praise His name!”
Since she wasn’t old enough to go directly into a nurses’ training program upon graduating from high school, and since she was not financially able to go to college, she worked in Denver, CO for one year. In the fall of 1944, she was accepted to enter the Swedish Covenant Hospital Nursing Program. It was war time, and when the Cadet Nursing Program was offered through the Swedish Covenant Hospital, Geneva signed up and graduated as an RN with highest honors in 1947. She then entered North Park Junior College and Bible Institute.
When great need arose on the Congo mission field, she quickly accepted the call to go after only one year at North Park. In August 1949, she sailed for the Belgian Congo. Gordon Christensen followed a year later, and they were married on September 2, 1950 in Leopoldville, the capital of the Belgian Congo. Geneva and Gordon served together on the Covenant Field in Congo until their retirement in 1990. Most of their time was spent at the Bible Institute where pastors and their wives were trained. Geneva served as a nurse as well as taught at the Bible Institute.
Probably Geneva’s greatest contribution to the pastor’s wives was to teach them that they were people of worth. She taught them that God made them, and He doesn’t make useless or second-grade things. Geneva received a medal from the Congolese government for long service to the Congo. Geneva said she had a graduate degree: “MOM”. In Lingala, she was called “Mama” and “Koko” meaning “Mom” and “Grandmother.”
Geneva’s root gifts were those of counseling, teaching, and mentoring. During her retirement years, these gifts were in use regularly. Both Geneva and Gordon were prolific writers, producing helpful booklets for the Christian life for the Congolese. No doubt, the greatest gift to the African church was and is the three volume New Testament commentary, “Mai Na Bomoi” (“Living Water”) that Gordon wrote with Geneva’s assistance. These volumes have been used as textbooks in many Congolese Bible Schools. After their retirement, both Geneva and Gordon served in interim pastor capacities in several places and were involved in Schools of Prayer and Evangelism, and Spiritual Intervention.
Geneva is survived by her three children and their spouses: Susan and Dale Lovercheck (Media, PA), Michael and Angela Christensen (Hampton, VA), and Mary Lynn and Dennis Carlson (Farmington Hills, MI). She is also survived by her five grandchildren: James Lovercheck, Timothy Carlson (Kathryn), Kristin Bransford (Scott), Nathan Christensen and Katelin Christensen. Geneva was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon Christensen; grandson, Phillip Christensen; sister, Evelyn Noren; brother, Edwin Noren and brother, Willard Noren.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 AM Friday, May 3, 2019 at the Herndon Covenant Church. Burial will follow at Herndon Covenant Cemetery. Visitation will be 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Memorial contributions may be made to the Herndon Covenant Church or Paul Carlson Partnership – Congo Clinic Initiative (Chicago, IL). Condolences may be left at www.paulsfh.com
Monday, June 7th, 1954 – Sunday, April 28th, 2019
An obituary is pending with Baalmann Mortuary.
Click HERE for service details.
