Gov. Laura Kelly has announced that $900,000 in grants will support health care providers in their efforts to vaccinate Kansans across the state.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will provide the Kansas Association of Family Physicians and the Kansas Association of Pediatricians each with a three-year, $450,000 grant, totaling $900,000, for primary care providers in Kansas to hire staff members to support their ongoing efforts to onboard, administer, and advocate for vaccinations.
“With more than 60 percent of Kansans over the age of 18 having received at least one dose of the vaccine, our state is steadily making progress,” Gov. Kelly said in a news release. “These grants are part of our state’s all-of-the-above approach to pursue every initiative and use every resource to get vaccines into arms, and protect our families, our economy, and our schools.”
The grants will allow primary care providers (PCPs) to hire dedicated staff who will serve as a liaison to the KDHE immunization team, specifically supporting providers in on-boarding, administering, and advocating for vaccinations. The liaison officer’s responsibilities will include:
• Reaching out to PCPs and host webinars to encourage them to get their patients vaccinated.
• Increasing COVID-19 vaccine provider enrollment among PCPs and pediatricians.
• Providing a “customer service” operation for PCPs facing problems to enroll as COVID-19 vaccine providers and order vaccines.
• Facilitating access to traditional and digital communications capabilities which PCPs can leverage to effectively motivate their patients to get a vaccine.
• Hosting regular webinars for enrolled PCPs and Pediatricians, where those providers can share best practices and request additional support.
As part of the announcement, Gov. Kelly talked with health care stakeholders about the challenges they face in their efforts to vaccinate their communities, and how Kansas can be a better partner in those efforts.
“Our state’s primary care providers are critical to providing broad, ongoing access to vaccines, and play essential roles as trusted advisers to vaccine-hesitant communities,” Gov. Kelly said in the news release. “I appreciate today’s participants for the meaningful discussion about how Kansas can support providers in their continued vaccination efforts.”
Dr. Allen Greiner, family physician and medical officer for the Unified Government Health Department, was one of the participants in the roundtable discussion.
Differences between COVID-19 headaches and migraine headaches discussed
The differences between COVID-19 headaches and migraine headaches was a topic of discussion at the morning media update Thursday at the University of Kansas Health System.
Neurologist and migraine specialist Dr. Deetra Ford discussed the differences in headaches. Some patients had headaches after the COVID-19 illness, sometimes lasting for weeks or months, according to Dr. Ford. They were dull, intense pressure headaches. Migraine medications did not work as well for some patients.
Common triggers for migraines were stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, wine, chocolate and caffeine.
Several new drug therapies are available for those who have migraine headaches, she said.
According to Dr. Ford, some patients have a chance of a migraine within a couple of days after getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but it goes away and is not as bad as the migraines suffered by patients in the long-haul clinic.
She encouraged everyone to get a COVID-19 vaccination. To view the video, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/598191457866019.
Free walk-in vaccinations available
The Kansas National Guard Armory at 100 S. 20th (near 18th and Ridge) will be open for free walk-in vaccinations for everyone 12 and older from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, June 19. The vaccines are through the Unified Government Health Department.
The Unified Government Health Department vaccination hours changed recently. To see the schedule and more information about vaccinations, visit WycoVaccines.org or https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.
Those who receive COVID-19 vaccinations are asked to consider bringing an ID to make the process go faster.
The Health Department is doing more mobile COVID-19 vaccinations, and people may request vaccines to be given at different sites in the community by going to WycoVaccines.org and clicking on “mobile vaccine request.” People also may request a ride to vaccination sites on the same page.
Those who wish to schedule an appointment may use the Health Department’s self-scheduling tool at WycoVaccines.org and click on a blue button that says, “Click here to schedule an appointment online.” The page is available in Spanish by clicking at the top of the page. Walk-in appointments also are welcome.
Those who don’t have an internet connection may call 3-1-1 or 913-573-5311 for assistance in scheduling their vaccination appointment time and date.
To see more information about Health Department vaccinations and next week’s schedule, visit WycoVaccines.org.
Other sites available for vaccinations
Vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment to get vaccinated. KU Health System currently is vaccinating residents of Kansas and Missouri who are 12 or older, by appointment only. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the appointment.
There are also pharmacies giving free COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacies, which are now also accepting walk-in vaccinations or appointments, and are starting vaccinations for age 12 and up at those pharmacies that are giving Pfizer vaccine (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/).
CVS has announced walk-in appointments for COVID-19 vaccine at some of its stores. Those interested in getting a vaccination at a CVS pharmacy are asked to visit a CVS website in order to make sure there is vaccine available. The website is at www.cvs.com/. Walgreens and Walmart also were listed on www.vaccines.gov as giving vaccinations.
Other pharmacies and sites giving vaccines are listed at www.vaccines.gov. The website also tells whether vaccines are in stock at the locations.
Case numbers reported
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, reported the COVID-19 case numbers at the University of Kansas Health System were creeping up on Thursday morning. Seventeen active COVID-19 patients were being treated at the hospital, an increase of two since Wednesday. Two patients were in the intensive care unit, no change. One was on a ventilator, the same as Wednesday. Eight other patients were still in the hospital, in the recovery phase, a decrease of two. There were 25 total COVID-19 patients, no change. Almost all the new patients were unvaccinated and younger. One government official said the Delta variant “is like COVID on steroids” and is becoming more dominant, along with the Alpha variant, and is why vaccinations are vital.
Wyandotte County reported an increase of 11 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, June 17, for a cumulative 18,964 cases, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 299 deaths reported, no change.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 175,808 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Thursday in the Kansas City region. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 52.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 316,343 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Wednesday, June 16, an increase of 329 cases since Monday. There were a total of 5,125 cumulative deaths reported statewide, an increase of three.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday night reported 33,508,737 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 600,937 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 12,430 new cases nationwide and 368 new deaths nationwide.
States with high numbers of new cases were Texas, 2,137; Missouri, 862; California, 743; Washington, 531; and Georgia, 498.
Countries with high numbers of new cases were Brazil, 95,367; India, 67,208; Colombia, 27,827; Argentina, 25,878; and U.S., 12,430, according to Johns Hopkins information.
Free testing available
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, June 19, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th, (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas. This is the eastern location for the UG Health Department.
Wyandotte County residents may contact the Health Department at wycohelp.org to sign up for a test to be delivered to their home.
For more details about free COVID-19 testing offered by the UG Health Department, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19, https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept or call 3-1-1.
The Health Department’s general contact page is at https://www.wycokck.org/Health/Contact.aspx. The department’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.
Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. There are more test sites listed on this page.
Saliva testing is now offered at the UG Health Department. For more information, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02042021-ugphd-saliva-testing-available.pdf.
The KU doctors’ news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/598191457866019.
The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/330310795391910.
A vaccine report for the state of Kansas is at
https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/123/Vaccine-Historical-Document-22521?bidId=.
The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.
The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.
The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.
The Johns Hopkins Data in Motion, a presentation on critical COVID-19 data in the past 24 hours, is at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video.