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Widespread 911 outage causes alarm for Kansas officials

info2020-12-02T07:54:18-06:00December 1st, 2020|

Some officials charged with upgrading Kansas' 911 system say a nearly three-hour outage across the southern part of the state on Sunday revealed the potential for future major disruptions to emergency operations. During the outage, which began about 1:35 p.m., multiple counties weren't able to log into the state's 911 system. The impact varied, with some agencies posting alternative emergency phone numbers on social media or rerouting calls before service was restored around 4:40 p.m., The Kansas City Star reported. A 2018 audit warned that the system was at risk of outages, and Sunday's incident was third major 911 failure in [...]

Expected staffing shortages could hit rural Kansas hospitals hard

info2020-12-02T07:54:38-06:00December 1st, 2020|

Anticipated staffing shortages amid surging coronavirus cases could hit rural hospitals especially hard because smaller communities have more limited options for finding providers to cover for sick workers, medical providers say. “We are doing what we can to make sure our staff are staying healthy and safe and able to be available to treat the community, but we also have heard that with post-holiday, this could be a challenge,” said Cindy Samuelson, senior vice president for the Kansas Hospital Association. “There is lots of potential for community spread.” About 44% of the state’s hospitals on Monday were anticipating staffing shortages this [...]

Gov. Kelly turns to Amazon finance manager to replace retiring state budget director

info2020-12-02T07:55:17-06:00December 1st, 2020|

The state budget director who balanced the books for Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is retiring and will be replaced by an Amazon finance manager who previously had oversight of Kansas’ Medicaid program. Adam Proffitt, who was at Amazon after leaving state government and had career stops at Payless ShoeSource and Capital Federal Savings Bank, will assume the role of director of the budget. His task is to serve interests of the executive branch and work with the Republican-led Legislature on state government budgets that balance and conform to mandates of the Kansas Constitution. “Adam brings a [...]

Situation continues getting more critical at Hutchinson hospital

info2020-12-02T07:55:40-06:00December 1st, 2020|

The intensive care unit and the COVID-19 ward at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center are both now full, including double beds in some rooms, and the hospital’s overflow COVID ward is nearly full, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday morning. There were nine people on ventilators Tuesday morning, and the hospital is running out of specialized equipment for new patients, said Chuck Welch, HRMC vice president. “We’re literally down to a handful of vents and a handful of beds,” Welch said. “We’re buying everything we can get hands on, but none are available. Shortages are extending past PPE (personal protective equipment) to actual [...]

Expected staffing shortages could hit rural hospitals hard

info2020-12-02T07:56:00-06:00December 1st, 2020|

Medical providers say anticipated staffing shortages amid surging coronavirus cases could hit rural hospitals especially hard because smaller communities have more limited options for finding providers to cover for sick workers. The Kansas Hospital Association reports that about 44% of the state’s hospitals on Monday were anticipating staffing shortages this week amid an expected rise in COVID-19 cases following the Thanksgiving holiday. Five rural Kansas counties — Rush, Republic, Ellsworth, Rawlins and Kearny — rank in the top 25 counties in the nation with the new cases per capita in the past 14 days. Source: KSN-TV

Hospital braces for ‘surge on top of a surge’ of COVID-19 cases in Shawnee County

info2020-12-02T07:56:40-06:00December 1st, 2020|

Though Stormont Vail Health’s hospital capacity has dropped slightly from last week, the impending fallout of Thanksgiving-weekend gatherings could reverse that course. During a virtual media briefing Tuesday, Stormont CEO Robert Kenagy told reporters the hospital was at about 90% capacity that morning, after hitting 100% capacity the week before. But, Kenagy said, "a surge on top of a surge" of COVID-19 cases may be on the horizon. "The incubation period is up to 10 to 14 days," Kenagy said, "so we anticipate seeing a surge on top of a surge sometime next week." Source: Local News | Topeka Capital-Journal

Up to half a foot of snow could be dumped on parts of Kansas, weather service predicts

info2020-12-02T07:58:24-06:00December 1st, 2020|

A wintry storm is expected to dump snow across much of the state with some areas of south-central Kansas receiving up to half a foot of snowfall. The National Weather Service office in Wichita issued a winter weather advisory that runs from noon Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. “Heavy snow possible,” the NWS advisory said. “Total snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches possible. Locally higher amounts may also occur.” Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

Before Kansas’s 911 system failed, audit warned risk of outages hadn’t been eliminated

info2020-12-01T07:59:04-06:00December 1st, 2020|

Children are taught from a young age to dial 911 in an emergency. Whether it’s a heart attack, a break-in or a fire, 911 answers the call right away. A widespread 911 service outage across Kansas on Sunday afternoon is testing that assumption. A roughly three-hour disruption sent police and sheriffs scrambling to post alternative phone numbers to social media. Multiple counties were unable to log into the state’s 911 system during that time. What happened if you called varied from area to area, with some agencies able to reroute calls before service was fully restored by around 4:40 p.m. Source: [...]

911 call centers running, but what happened Sunday?

info2020-12-01T07:58:11-06:00December 1st, 2020|

The 911 lines are back up and running. "We had 911 calls that were coming in. People calling but we could not answer calls," said Elora Forshee with Sedgwick County 911. It was not just a Sedgwick County problem for roughly two hours early Sunday afternoon. Nearly all of the southern tier of counties in Kansas experienced similar issues. Source: KSN-TV

Firefighters watch from above when 911 lines go down

info2020-12-01T07:57:43-06:00December 1st, 2020|

What happens when 911 does notwork? Dozens of Kansas counties had to learn the hard way after emergency lines went down for a couple of hours yesterday. In Sedgwick County when the phones went down Wichita fire crews went up. "Overall the majority of the firefighters, if not all of them, have never experienced anything like that," said Chief Jose Ocadiz. With a battalion crew roaming the ground fire Chief Ocadiz said they took things to another level. Source: KSN-TV

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