Fort Hays State University’s Department of Nursing will host a ribbon cutting and open house at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 25, in Stroup Hall.
The ribbon cutting is to celebrate a remodel project that included the creation of a simulation hospital, skills lab and separate clinic.
Both the hospital and clinic have five rooms each.
A new video system is capable of recording students during simulations, as well as a conference room for student debriefing and a student lounge with a sitting area, microwave, and refrigerator.
This was a collaborative project between FHSU and the Hays Medical Center and made possible through a $250,000 grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.
HAYS-Hays High opened up their 2019 girls soccer season in impressive fashion with a 7-1 win over TMP on Saturday at the Hays High Field. The Lady Indians tallied their first goal in the 14th minute when Taleia McCrae found the back of the net off of an assist from Jersey Johnson. That was the first of six first half goals for Hays as Caroline Robben, Savannah Schneider, Maggie Robben, Johnson, and Allison Shubert all scored for the Lady Indians who led 6-0 at halftime.
Kaylee Hernandez would get TMP on the board in the 44tth, which would be the only goal of the day for TMP who struggled to get the ball on the offensive end of the field all game. Johnson would score her second goal of the game in the 57th minute to wrap up the scoring for the game. Hays High showed their depth as they were able to make wholesale changes throughout the match. The Lady Monarchs did not have the depth but played hard throughout for first year head coach Racheal Hamel.
With the loss TMP drops to 0-3 on the season and will travel to Wichita on Monday to face Word of Life. Hays improves to 1-0 and will be in McPherson on Tuesday for the opening round of the McPherson Invitational where they will face Salina South.
Russell/Ellsworth County Emergency Management invites you to attend the presentation of the National Weather Service “Storm Fury On The Plains” Weather Spotter Training on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. at the Dream Theater in Russell or on Wednesday March 27, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. at Ellsworth Junior/Senior High PAC in Ellsworth.
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service office in Wichita have partnered with the local Emergency Management office and will be presenting information that will help prepare storm spotters and weather enthusiasts for the upcoming storm season. National Weather Service staff will provide an in depth weather presentation that will engage the audience by teaching them about the different types of storms, the individual storm features that help a person to recognize a storms potential severity, how to report hazardous weather, and severe weather safety.
The presentations are hosted by local county Emergency Management agencies and typically last up to two hours. They are open to anyone that has an interest in weather. There are no fees to attend, you do not have to register, and you do not have to sign up to be a spotter. So, if you are interested in learning more about severe thunderstorms and their hazards, please take the time to come out and join us for a very interesting and enjoyable evening.
For more information please contact your local county Emergency Manager or [email protected].
For further details please contact Keith Haberer at Russell/Ellsworth County Emergency Management, 850 Elm St., P.O. Box 158, Bunker Hill, Kansas 67626 (785) 483-5100 or 210 N Kansas Ave, Ellsworth Kansas 67439 (785) 472-4161. – SUBMITTED –
SALINE COUNTY —Rolling Hills Zoo is mourning the loss of one of the zoo’s iconic and beloved species, Motomba, an African lion, who had to be humanely euthanized on Friday due to complications from a long-term illness., according to a media release.
Motomba -photo courtesy Rolling Hills Zoo
“He was a marvelous ambassador for his kind and helped stimulate the conservation of this endangered species,” said Bob Jenkins, Executive Director of Rolling Hills Zoo.
Born in captivity in 1997, Motomba and his brother Simba arrived at Rolling Hills Zoo in 1998. As cubs they were introduce to Torrey, a female lion and original resident of the zoo’s main barn. Motomba, Simba and Torrey moved into the new Lion Exhibit at Rolling Hills Zoo in July 2000. Motomba outlived his brother Simba who died in June 2016.
Just shy of his 22nd birthday on March 30, Motomba lived well passed the expected lifetime of a wild African lion, who seldom live longer than 15 years, and the median age for male lions in captivity is 20 -25 years old. Neither Motomba nor Simba produced any offspring.
Motomba, a beloved member of the Rolling Hills Zoo family, could be heard by visitors throughout the park chuffing along with an occasion roar as a way to express a greeting or excitement with his keepers. As a non-threatening vocalization, staff members always enjoyed hearing Motomba’s chuffing throughout the day.
Powerful and majestic, lions once roamed most of African and parts of Asia and Europe. Today they are found only in parts of sub-Saharan African, except for one very small population of lions in India’s Gir Forest. Lions have no natural predators, but due habitat loss, conflicts with people and poaching, African lion numbers have plummeted by more than 40 percent in the last three generations, and with only about 20,000 in the wild they are now listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Redlist (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
The staff at Rolling Hills Zoo will be working with the SSP (Species Survival Plan) of the AZA (Association of Zoo and Aquariums) to secure a new lion(s) for Rolling Hills Zoo in the future
OMAHA (AP) — Even as floodwaters receded in hard-hit places in in the Midwest, experts warned Saturday that with plenty of snow still left to melt in northern states, the relief may only be temporary.
KHP pilots continue to help monitor the MO River flooding. This morning we surveyed the river levee near Elwood, KS, and took pics of the flooding after the levee breach east of Atchison yesterday. pic.twitter.com/fyzUOZinAk
Rainfall and some snowmelt spurred flooding in recent weeks that’s blamed in three deaths so far, with two men in Nebraska missing for more than a week. Thousands were forced from their homes in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, as water broke through or poured over levees in the region. The damage is estimated at $3 billion, and that figure is expected to rise.
As temperatures start to warm, snowmelt in the Dakotas and Minnesota will escalate, sending more water down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries.
None of this is supposed to be under water.
Here’s what the Missouri River looks like just across from Nebraska City into Iowa. If you ever drive to Kansas City, you’re probably familiar with this interchange of I-29 and Highway 2. The Missouri looks like an ocean.#NSP575pic.twitter.com/kwkkAs5fha
Lt. Col. James Startzell, deputy commander of the Corps of Engineers’ Omaha, Nebraska, district, said even warmer temperatures are possible into next week. He urged those living near rivers to keep a wary eye on them.
Bill Brinton, emergency management director for hard-hit Buchanan County, Missouri, which includes St. Joseph’s 76,000 residents, said he expects more flooding this spring. Buchanan and its neighboring counties have been ravaged by this round of flooding.
“There’s a sense from the National Weather Service that we should expect it to continue to happen into May,” Brinton said. “With our levee breaches in Atchison and Holt and Buchanan counties, it’s kind of scary really.”
A precautionary evacuation involving hundreds of homes in the St. Joseph area was lifted as the Missouri River began a swift decline after coming just inches short of the 1993 record. St. Joseph was largely spared, but Brinton said 250 homes were flooded in the southern part of Buchanan County. It wasn’t clear when residents would be able to get back.
When they do, officials say they need to be careful. Contaminants that escaped from flooded farm fields, industrial operations and sewage plants are part of the murky water now saturating homes.
In Fremont County, Iowa, homes remain underwater, so it will be some time before residents can return, said county Supervisor Randy Hickey.
“We don’t want them in that water, anyway,” Hickey said.
The water itself isn’t the only concern. Experts warn that sharp objects — broken glass, pieces of metal, pointy sticks and rocks — could lurk in muddy debris. Downed or broken power lines also may pose electrocution hazards.
Another risk is posed by river wildlife. Brinton said two people in Buchanan County were bitten by snakes after returning home following flooding in 2011.
The Missouri River had yet to crest further downstream in Missouri, but flooding impact in those areas was expected to be far less severe.
Concern was rising on the Mississippi River, too. Major flooding was reported at several spots north of the Iowa-Missouri line. St. Louis and other Missouri cities were seeing mostly moderate flooding.
Even the lower Mississippi River was impacted. The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday rescued two boaters from a disabled vessel near New Orleans. Coast Guard officials said the flooding means more debris in the river, and the currents can pull a boat into danger.
High Plains Mental Health Center has been recognized on a national level as an exemplary workplace environment for achieving high levels of staff satisfaction.
The certificate of excellence was presented to Executive Director Walt Hill on Feb. 20 at the MHCA national conference in Florida. This is the third time High Plains has received this recognition for best practices regarding staff satisfaction. MHCA is a national association of innovative behavioral health care organizations that distributes annual awards to recognize excellence in the customer satisfaction management system.
“It is an honor for us to receive this recognition for a third year,” Hill said. “The important community mental health services we provide in northwest Kansas would not be possible without our caring and hard-working staff. We appreciate everything they do to provide exemplary client care, and High Plains is committed to taking care of our staff in return.”
High Plains employs approximately 140 staff members throughout its 20-county service area in northwest Kansas. With a main office building in Hays, High Plains also has full-time branch offices in Colby, Goodland, Norton, Osborne and Phillipsburg. Community outreach services are available in almost all of the other 20 counties served. To learn more about High Plains Mental Health Center and to see current job openings, visit www.hpmhc.com or search on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
High Plains Mental Health Center is a licensed community mental health center dedicated to the aggressive pursuit of providing a comprehensive mental health program to the citizens of Northwest Kansas. Embodied in this pursuit are fundamental principles of establishing quality services as close to home as possible, at an affordable fee, and delivered in the least disruptive manner available. Such services will offer a continuum of care so that treatment can be individualized, and our staff can respond quickly and compassionately to those reaching out to us. We’re Here for You.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Friday night shooting in Wichita.
Police on the scene of the shooting investigation -photo courtesy KWCH
Just after 11 p.m. police were dispatched to the 7900 block of E. Indianapolis in Wichita for a shooting call, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.
Upon arrival, officers located a 29-year-old male victim inside of the residence, who had been shot multiple times. He was transported to a local hospital and remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to Wheeler.
The preliminary investigation shows that there was a disturbance that took place at the residence just before the shooting. This does not appear to be a random incident and there were no additional injuries and no one is in custody early Saturday, according to Wheeler.
LOGAN – The Dane G. Hansen Museum invites the public to their Annual Meeting, held in the Dane G. Hansen Community Room on April 14, 2019 at 2:00 p.m.
Enjoy refreshments, tour our current exhibit, then join the throng in our Community Room as Dr. Kelli Berg presents her “Travel Tales Across North America”. Actively traveling across America for her career, Dr. Berg immerses herself in the variety of cultures she encounters, taking awe-inspiring photos along the way. From the Yukon Province in Canada to Utah and Maine, Dr. Berg will share her medley of experiences with all in attendance.
Current Exhibit: Eckman Fine Art – Cast Paper Sculptures. Sculpting from their home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Allen and Patty Eckman are internationally recognized as masters in this intricate medium.
Marine veteran Allen Eckman’s attention to his Cherokee heritage pairs wonderfully with Patty’s detailed awareness of natural beauty, especially wildlife and flowers. As Allen and Patty’s sculptures are typically unpainted, this purity lends itself wholly to the intricate detail of these exquisite pieces. In addition to this main theme, Allen has included several sculptures that reflect his military background, while Patty includes some of her oil and acrylic paintings of nature and the timeless west.
Eckman Fine Art – Cast Paper Sculptures is on display through June 2, 2019.
For more information, please contact Director Shari Buss at 785-689-4846.
The Museum is open weekdays 9-12 and 1-4; Saturdays 9-12 & 1-5; Sundays and holidays 1-5. We are closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The Museum is handicap-accessible and thanks to the generosity of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, there is never an admission fee.
Social workers can perform a myriad of tasks. Some check on children in abusive homes and some train foster families. Others support patients through medical procedures like kidney dialysis or provide talk therapy to mental health patients.
But there are too few of them in Kansas.
Aspiring licensed clinical social workers in Kansas must go through 4,000 hours of supervised training, and often pay for it out of pocket. CAMILO RUEDA LOPEZ / (CC BY-ND 2.0)
An array of health care providers, state agencies and nonprofit organizations that employ social workers say low pay and emotionally challenging work make it hard to hire and retain qualified social workers — especially in the wake of years of declining state funding.
Advocates say Kansas’ uncommonly high standards make the problem worse. The state has stringent requirements for granting the most advanced social work certification and for allowing people certified elsewhere to practice in Kansas.
Now lawmakers are considering a bill that would lower those standards, bringing them closer to requirements in most other states.
“Currently there’s a chronic (worker) shortage,” said Becky Fast, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, “in rural medical care, in mental health and in child welfare.”
Currently, Kansas requires aspiring licensed clinical social workers to pay for 4,000 hours of supervised experience with clients and 150 hours of direct contact with a supervisor. Most other states require between 3,000 and 4,000 hours of client experience and less than 110 hours of supervisor contact.
The state also requires social workers, counselors and other professionals who were licensed outside of Kansas to have worked at least 60 out of the last 66 months before applying for a license in Kansas.
A bill pending in the Legislature would reduce those requirements, instead asking for 48 months of work experience out of the preceding 54 months. It would also reduce the work requirement for licensed clinical social workers from 4,000 to 3,000 hours.
The state Senate approved the bill unanimously last month. It now awaits a vote from the House of Representatives.
Advocates and employers say the reductions would motivate more social workers to seek jobs or clinical certification in Kansas and would make it easier for nonprofits, state agencies and health care providers to recruit.
Laura Howard, the newly appointed secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, has said she wants to make hiring social workers a priority for the department. She said on KCUR’s Up to Date that her agency has been able to fill more vacancies since Gov. Laura Kelly came into office, and that recent interns have expressed interest in staying with the department.
“This is the hardest work that someone can do,” Howard said in the interview. “We have some aggressive recruitment campaigns with the schools of social work across the state.”
But Kansas employers often lose out to neighboring states with lower standards for clinical social worker certification, said Fast. One reason: the cost of paying a clinician to oversee training time, which can be as much as $70 an hour.
“Most social workers now have to pay for that clinical supervision because agencies can’t afford to lose that billable time,” Fast told lawmakers. “You’re paying several thousand dollars. Many just give up and say, ‘I’m going to move to Missouri.’”
Fast told legislators that it took her two years to get her clinical license in Missouri, while her colleagues working in Kansas needed three or four years to complete the required hours.
She called the requirements “a primary barrier” to recruiting social workers from nearby states.
In an interview, Fast said she doesn’t have an exact number for open social work positions in Kansas, but she said employers routinely send her job postings and tell her that they have trouble hiring workers. The impending retirement of Baby Boomer social workers and the mobility of the millennial workforce have made things worse.
“There’s a real generational shift right now,” she said. “Today’s young professionals want to live in many states and want to move across state lines. And how do you meet that changing workforce need?”
Fast said the shortage of licensed clinical social workers has a particular impact in rural western Kansas, where patients rely heavily on Medicare. Among the variety of social work and counseling positions, only clinical social workers and psychologists can bill Medicare.
There are only 79 licensed clinical social workers in the western half of the state, Fast said. “It is at (a) crisis point in rural areas of Kansas.”
Christie Appelhanz, executive director of the Children’s Alliance for Kansas, said in an interview that the shortage reduces social workers’ ability to manage their caseloads and help their clients.
“It’s really about fulfilling the needs that each individual has on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “Social workers are definitely feeling the stress.”
Great Bend will be the second of three free hearing screenings, funded by the Kansas Masons, offered again this spring in western Kansas communities by Fort Hays State University.
“The FHSU Herndon Clinic in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is very fortunate to have received a large grant from the Kansas Masons to support adult speech, language and hearing services in Western Kansas,” said Marcy Beougher, speech-language pathologist and an instructor in the department.
The grant is continuing to provide numerous opportunities for individuals of all ages in western Kansas to receive important health screening services that are currently scarce or difficult to access.
“With Mason support and funding, we have visited 16 different communities in two and a half years and have screened nearly 600 people,” said Beougher. “We are thankful to the Masons for the opportunity to help provide free hearing screenings in Western Kansas and to make necessary and important medical and audiological referrals. We are also very grateful for the clinical hours these screenings provide for our graduate students.”
The screening will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, April 5, at the Barton County Health Department, 1300 Kansas Ave., Great Bend.
Appointments are encouraged to be scheduled ahead of time, but walk-ins will be welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each site will have four stations, with each screening lasting approximately 15 minutes. Results, follow-up information and free ear plugs will also be provided. There will be no hearing aid sales.
Screenings are provided by graduate students from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Beougher will organize the screenings.
The last screening of the spring 2019 semester will be in Belleville. Time, date and actual screening site will be announced later.
“FHSU’s CSD Department feels this is truly a win-win situation as our graduate students receive valuable clinical hours and experience serving the public at these screenings, and many individuals benefit from the knowledge they receive about their hearing, as well as helpful follow-up information,” said Beougher.
“We are grateful as always to the Kansas Masons, who welcome us to their communities and support this endeavor financially so we can provide this much-needed service for no charge.”
To schedule an appointment for the Great Bend screening, contact Greg King at 620-617-3634 or [email protected].
For more information, visit fhsu.edu/herndon-clinic/ or contact the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at 785-628-5366.
A chance of showers and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 56. East southeast wind around 15 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tonight
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Northwest wind 8 to 15 mph.
Sunday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph.
Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. North northeast wind 8 to 13 mph.
Monday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. North wind 6 to 8 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A bicyclist has died after being struck by a vehicle in Overland Park, Kansas.
The accident happened Friday morning. The bicyclist was taken to a hospital and died Friday afternoon. Overland Park police have not released any information about the bicyclist, pending notification of relatives.
Police say the vehicle and bicyclist were heading in the same direction when the accident happened just after 9:30 a.m. The bicyclist was not wearing a helmet.
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