Tag: health

Residents to talk about their ideas for improving community health tonight and Friday evening

Residents to talk about their ideas for improving community health tonight and Friday evening

A community engagement event is scheduled tonight and Friday evening on how to improve community health.

Residents are being asked for their ideas on how to improve health here.

“Your Vision for Health in Wyandotte County” will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, and from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Douglass Elementary School, 1310 N. 9th, Kansas City, Kan.

The event is sponsored by the Kansas Health Foundation in partnership with Communities Creating Opportunity.

The KHF has a $200 million endowment and is listening to residents’ views on health and how it can better invest grant resources in Wyandotte County and across the state.

KHF has awarded a $250,000 grant to Communities Creating Opportunity to support resident-led efforts to address health issues in Wyandotte County. Four other areas of Kansas also received $250,000 grants.

The event is open to the public.

Flu cases on the increase, but still light in Wyandotte County

Hospitals in Kansas City, Kan., have seen some flu cases, but they are considered a low number.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., reported eight cases of persons hospitalized with the flu, a spokesman said.

Providence Medical Center has counted five to six patients with the flu, a very light number initially, with no admissions, a spokesman said. All of these flu patients were tested through the emergency room at Providence.

The CDC earlier this week said the flu vaccine was not as effective this year because of other strains of flu. However, doctors at KU Hospital still recommended getting a flu vaccine as it would probably make the effects of the flu less severe, and the flu vaccine will cover some of the strains that people are exposed to.

County health rankings used to improve health efforts in communities

Mayor Mark Holland talked about how Wyandotte County has used the county health rankings to increase efforts to address health. He spoke at a meeting sponsored by the Kansas Health Institute on Monday at Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan. (Photo by William Crum)

by William Crum

The healthiest and not-so-healthy counties in Kansas were discussed at a Kansas Health Institute meeting Monday at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Johnson County was in the top five counties in the county health rankings in the state, while Wyandotte County was 96th out of about 100 counties.

Representatives of three Kansas counties talked about how they used the health rankings information to improve health efforts in their communities.

At the meeting, Unified Government Mayor Mark Holland shared his goals on how Wyandotte County can be a healthier county. Increasing the bike trails and encouraging others to eat healthier are a few of these goals.

A panel discussion addressed methods of how to solve health problems in individual counties.

More than 250 people attended this meeting.

 

More than 250 people attended a meeting on county health rankings sponsored by the Kansas Health Institute on Monday at Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan. (Photo by William Crum)