Month: October 2016

Turner Days to include parade, festival, car show on Saturday and Sunday

by Mary Rupert

The 32nd annual Turner Days festival, Oct. 8 and 9, features a parade and festival.

“The highlight is the community coming together to celebrate Turner,” said Vikki Mullins, publicist for Turner Days.

Turner is a tight-knit community with its own school district, which some people do not realize, she added.

“You get to see the people you’ve known since kindergarten, even though you’ve graduated 20 years ago,” she added.

Volunteers, many connected with the schools, are working on the annual festival. Sponsors include the Turner Recreation Commission.

The parade will start at 10 a.m. Saturday near Turner High School, near South 55th and Key Lane, and will travel on 55th to Inland Drive, Mullins said.

She said much of the festival takes place at Steineger Field, near 58th and Metropolitan, behind Turner Middle School.

Turner Days usually draws an attendance between 700 and 1,000, she said. Hours of the festival will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Sunny and nice fall weather is in the forecast for both days this year. There is no admission charge for the festival and parade, although there is a fee to have a booth, to be in the parade, to run in the 5K, to play volleyball or to be in the car show.

A 5K run will kick off events at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

A car show will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday on the upper parking lot at Turner Middle School, she said. It is one of the most popular events at Turner Days, and has been growing every year, she added.

The festival will include several bands and student groups performing, along with food, games, and craft booths, Mullins said.

The Turner High School choir is scheduled to perform the national anthem at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, with more music by the choir at 12:30 p.m. Awards are scheduled following the parade. There will be a Lil Mister and Miss Turner selected, as well as Walk of Fame inductees. A karate demonstration is planned at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Mud volleyball will be offered both days at Steineger Field, Mullins said. Adult mud volleyball tournament will be on Saturday, while the high school mud volleyball tournament will be held on Sunday.

The Olive Branch Ministries service will be held at 9 a.m. Sunday, and there will be a performance at 10 a.m. Sunday by the Church of the Risen Lamb.

For more information about Turner Days, including a schedule of events, visit https://www.facebook.com/turnerdaysofficial/. More information is at http://turnerdays.com/download.html.

Cardiac arrest survivor ready to Rock, Roll and Run Oct. 8

When Michael Gibbons steps to the starting line for the first ever “Rock, Roll and Run” 5K Saturday, Oct. 8, it will be nothing short of a miracle.

That’s because just a few months earlier, the 58-year-old was pronounced clinically dead after suffering cardiac arrest following his daily workout at the Bonner Springs YMCA.

“My routine is to swim at least five days a week, usually for about an hour,” Gibbons said. He remembers going to shower after he finished his morning swim on May 2, 2016, but little else. “I didn’t have any chest pain or discomfort, but they tell me my heart stopped while I was in the shower.”

Fortunately, another YMCA member saw what happened, dragged him out of the shower, and called for help. YMCA staff and another member who is a pediatric nurse used an automatic external defibrillator and CPR to revive Gibbons, keeping him alive until first responders arrived.

At nearby Providence Medical Center, doctors were concerned that Gibbons’ brain function could have suffered from lack of oxygen during the incident. In the Providence Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, he received therapeutic hypothermia, or cooling therapy, a best practice to increase survival and reduce the risk of damage to his brain after a cardiac arrest.

A few days later, Gibbons’ doctors explained what had happened, and reviewed his treatment options with him.

“I thought I might need to have a stent or two,” Gibbons said. “I had no idea how serious my condition was.”

Mike’s surgeon told him he was lucky to be alive—only 2 percent of patients who experience what he did survive, and only 1 percent have no neurological damage. And he added that if Mike wanted to stay alive, he would need six of his heart’s diseased vessels replaced immediately. He also would need to live a healthier lifestyle. “The staff started calling me ‘Miracle Mike,’” Gibbons said. “They couldn’t believe I had survived.”

After successful six-way bypass surgery and two weeks in the hospital, Gibbons was cleared to return home, determined to make a full recovery.

“I had planned to retire in July 2017 from my job at the Lansing Correctional Facility,” he said. “Instead I decided to retire this summer, focus on getting healthy and spend more time with my family.”

To do that, Gibbons is now working with Dr. Donald McSweyn, a board-certified Providence cardiologist who is overseeing his care. He has completed Cardiac Rehabilitation at Providence, changing his diet, losing weight and getting control of his blood glucose levels. He now has returned to the Bonner Springs YMCA where he continues to work out under the staff’s watchful eye.

Looking back, Gibbons said everyone he came in contact with at Providence during his two-week stay was caring and professional.

“They’re good people who care about others and who provided me and my family with outstanding care. I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said.

“I am a man of faith,” Gibbons added. “I believe the people who were at the Y and Providence that day were there for a purpose. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Gibbons will walk with the approval of his medical team in the first Rock, Roll and Run 5K Walk-Run Saturday, Oct. 8, at 8:30 a.m. at the Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre, 633 N. 130th St., Bonner Springs, Kan. The 5K is followed by a Kids Run at 10 a.m., with a free Community Health Fair hosted by the hospital and YMCA featuring local bands from 8 a.m. to noon.

The event is sponsored by Providence Medical Center and the YMCA of Greater Kansas City.
Proceeds benefit the Providence YMCA-Ball Family Center’s Cancer Survivorship program, as well as the YMCA scholarship program.

More information, including race registration, is available online at http://tinyurl.com/RockRollRun.

Registration forms also are available at any Wyandotte County YMCA location, including 8th St. YMCA, Bonner Springs YMCA and the Providence YMCA-Ball Family Center.

– Story from Providence Medical Center

KU alumnus wins Nobel Peace Prize

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, a University of Kansas graduate, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end a 50-year civil war in his country.

According to a KU news release, Santos graduated from KU in 1973 in business and economics.

Although his efforts to achieve an accord were rejected by voter, the Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed hope that the award would encourage Columbians to continue their efforts at ending a civil war that killed more than 220,000 and displaced nearly 6 million.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasizes the importance of the fact that President Santos is now inviting all parties to participate in a broad-based national dialogue aimed at advancing the peace process,” the Nobel committee stated in a news release issued Oct. 7 from its Oslo, Norway, headquarters. “Even those who opposed the peace accord have welcomed such a dialogue. The Nobel Committee hopes that all parties will take their share of responsibility and participate constructively in the upcoming peace talks.”

Santos arrived at KU in 1969 and earned his degree in seven semesters, returned to Colombia, then left for London, where he began his career as Colombia’s delegate to the International Coffee Organization. Kansas Alumni magazine profiled Santos in a May 2011 cover story. The KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences presented Santos its Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award in 2012.

“We are excited and proud to learn that President Santos has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to pursue peace in Colombia,” said Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, in a news release. “President Santos is among our most distinguished alumni and has been a wonderful supporter of the University of Kansas throughout his career. Our primary focus at KU is to prepare students to become leaders when they leave the university, and President Santos is a shining example of that.”

Heath Peterson, Alumni Association president, said Santos’ achievement adds to Jayhawk pride worldwide.

“This Nobel Peace Prize also brings honor to the long-established mission of University of Kansas faculty, administrators, students, staff and alumni to make our heartland campus a welcome home to students from around the world,” he said. “Our international missions, as educators and alumni advocates, will continue with an energized pace thanks to President Santos, whom we are proud to call one of our own.”