Month: August 2014

Doctors at KU Hospital put ebola virus disease into perspective

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released detailed guidelines and clinical criteria for evaluating patients who might appear with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and are at risk for having been exposed to EVD.

The University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, Kan., released some information today about the disease.

The CDC guidelines include, but are not limited to, a fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and additional symptoms such as severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or unexplained hemorrhage, according to a KU Hospital news release.

Also, the CDC guidelines call for assessing epidemiologic risk factors within the three weeks before the onset of symptoms, such as contact with blood or other body fluids of a patient known to have or suspected to have EVD; residence in—or travel to—an area where EVD outbreak or direct handling of bats, rodents, or primates from disease-endemic areas.

The CDC alert says patients should also be checked for malaria, which doctors at The University of Kansas Hospital says shares some of the same symptoms as EVD and is also very deadly.

“Malaria kills close to a million people annually, worldwide,” said Dr. James L. Fishback, professor of pathology and lab medicine; at The University of Kansas Hospital. “We’ve never had an outbreak of EVD on U.S. soil, but we treat a few cases of malaria here at KU Hospital every year, as well as tuberculosis, which also claims nearly a million lives every year.”

Doctors say it’s important to keep the EVD outbreak in perspective. Although it’s making big headlines in the national news, it is extremely rare, and mainly a risk to people who are taking care of EVD patients in Africa.

Doctors say EVD outbreaks happen about every ten years. People should use common sense and consult CDC travel advisories for this and other diseases if you’re planning travel to areas reported in the current outbreak.

– Story from KU Hospital

KCKCC holds high school debate camp

Students attended a debate camp recently at Kansas City Kansas Community College. (KCKCC photo)

by Kelly Rogge

Kansas City Kansas Community College is holding a week-long debate camp to help high school debaters prepare for the upcoming season.

The camp, which started Aug. 4, is free for high school students and is held by the KCKCC Debate Team with support from the Division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the vice president of academic affairs office and the vice president of financial and administrative services.

The goal is to teach high school students about the debate topic they will be debating in the coming school year. Offered as a free alternative to more expensive summer institutes, some costing as much as $3,000, students from all over the Kansas City area attend the camp. In the past, some have come from as far away as southern Missouri and southern and western Kansas.

“It helps students who may not be able to afford more expensive residential camps,” said Darren Elliott, coach of the national-champion KCKCC debate team and director of the debate camp. “Over the course of the week, one to two dozen students from area high schools will attend various lectures.”

In addition to Elliott, KCKCC Assistant Debate Coach Scott Elliott serves as a lecturer for the camp. This year, he is giving the topic lecture because he is considered an expert in the field of this year’s high school topic – “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and-or development of the Earth’s oceans.”

Elliott received his law degree from the University of Texas while he was assisting with environmental law and ocean policy.

High school students attending the camp will have the opportunity to listen to a variety of lectures during the week including all aspects of ocean policy.

Lectures are delivered by both Darren Elliott and Scott Elliott as well as members of the KCKCC Debate Team, and other college and high school coaches.

For more information on the KCKCC debate program or the high school debate camp, contact Darren Elliott at 913-288-7295 or by email at [email protected].

Students attended a debate camp recently at Kansas City Kansas Community College. (KCKCC photo)

Johnson County man pleads guilty to defrauding bank

A Johnson County man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to taking part in a fraud scheme that cost the Bank of Blue Valley more than $877,000, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Timothy P. Fitzgerald, 56, Leawood, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. In his plea, he admitted the crime took place while he was chief financial officer of KC United, LLC, which was a holding company for five construction services companies located in Kansas City, Kan.

KC United was a loan customer of the Bank of Blue Valley, which has offices in Johnson County. In 2008, KC United was losing money. Fitzgerald and other conspirators knew that KC United needed to show a profit in order to maintain its bank and bonding relationships, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Fitzgerald and others manipulated KC United’s quarterly financial statements to falsely reflect a profit, authorities said. Fitzgerald delivered the falsified reports to the Bank of Blue Valley, which relied on the false information to renew the company’s line of credit.

Fitzgerald and other conspirators also prepared annual financial statements that contained falsified profits and a cover letter falsely stating that an outside accounting firm had reviewed the statement, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The cover letter was placed on the letterhead of an outside accounting firm.

On April 28, 2011, three of the companies owned by KC United filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Bank of Blue valley sold its position in the remaining outstanding loan to KC United, sustaining a loss of more than $877,000.

Blue Valley Ban Corp., the holding company for Bank of Blue Valley received more than $21 million in funding from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

“Bank of Blue Valley did not repay TARP and missed 18 quarterly dividend payments totaling $4.9 million, money owed to taxpayers as a result of the bank holding TARP funds,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP.

“Treasury sold its TARP investment in the bank at a principal loss of nearly $500,000, a loss in addition to uncollected TARP dividend payments,” Romero added.

Sentencing will be set for a later time. Fitzgerald faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million. Grissom commended the U.S. Department of Labor – OIG, the U.S. Department of Labor – EBSA, IRS Criminal Investigations, the FBI, the special investigator general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program investigated and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.