Takeaways: It’s been a year since the nurses at Ascension via Christi St. Joseph Hospital in Wichita voted to unionize. Even longer since St. Francis nurses made the same play. About nine months have passed since they walked off the job the first time to protest what they contend are the hospitals’ spare staffing levels […]
Ascension Via Christi
Posted inHealth, How To
More Kansas mothers, especially women of color, are dying after giving birth. Where can Wichitans go for help?
Kansas looks to be an increasingly dangerous place to give birth, especially for women of color. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that maternal deaths per 100,000 live births within a month and a half of giving birth nearly doubled nationwide between 2018 and 2021. A disproportionate number of Black mothers made […]
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Where to go in Wichita if you fall in the Medicaid gap
Kansas remains one of 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, leaving 40,000-plus people in the state without government health insurance — or subsidies for private coverage. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly still wants the Legislature to expand that coverage — and so do more than two-thirds of Kansans. But Republican leaders in Topeka appear unlikely to […]
Posted inEconomics, Health
Years of nurse short-staffing culminate in second strike in six months at two Ascension hospitals
After a monthslong struggle against cost-cutting measures, nurses at two Ascension Via Christi hospitals in Wichita went on strike for the second time in six months on Dec. 6 as negotiations dragged between the union and the state’s largest health care provider. Ascension Via Christi’s St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals are dealing with ongoing […]
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Psychologist works with Wichita Catholic Diocese to fight stigma around suicide
When Jessica Provines left the Catholic Church, she was an idealistic 18-year-old disillusioned with an institution that she saw as rigid, uncompromising and detached from the needs of the suffering. Twenty-six years later, Provines finds the Wichita Catholic Diocese a willing partner, ready to talk candidly about suicide to save lives. She’s worked her way […]
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Uninsured? A free colon cancer screening is available
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in Kansas, behind lung cancer. Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about one in 23 for men and one in 26 for women. However, each person’s risk might be higher or lower, depending on their risk factors. The American Cancer Society recommends […]