Fort Scott officials are still working to make sure Bourbon County residents still have local access to an emergency room after December 20th. That’s the date Ascension Via Christi has given for when they’ll cease operations of the emergency room in Ft. Scott. Fort Scott Mayor Matthew Wells said they’ve been working with U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s office to give the current facility the Rural Emergency Health Care (REH) designation. When an eligible facility converts to an REH, it allows them to provide emergency department services, observation care, and additional outpatient medical and health services that don’t exceed an annual per-patient average length of stay of 24 hours. Wells said without Moran’s bill, they may not be able to get the REH designation. “As everyone knows, it was stated that on December 27, 2020, if you’re not an active hospital, you would not be able to apply. That has put our hospital and up to 100 other, I’m told, in the position where they can’t reopen or apply for that REH designation,” said Wells. Wells adds they’ve been working with the county to ensure there’s an increase of EMS services and extra ambulances available, as well as ensuring the helipad stays completely operational. Wells adds they’ve been working with two different strategic health care initiative partners who believe they’ll be able to reopen the ER after the first of the year.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Last week the Uniontown district received a hydroponic farm from Leafy Green Farms. The district is partnering with Leafy Green Farms for five years to have a hydroponic farm classroom on campus so students can learn how to grow organic vegetables. This is a phase one initiative to place a hydroponic farm at ten schools in southeast Kansas. The project is a partnership between Leafy Green Farms and Community Green Farms. Leafy Green Farms is providing everything the school needs for the first three months of operations, including training, all equipment, seeds, and nutrients. Superintendent Vance Eden says they’re planning to use some of the produce in their food services. “We do plan on having it up and running at least the food service side of it in early January and then again we’ll have some community open house dates. And then also we’ll do the same thing in a similar scale for teachers, where teachers can come in and kind of see oh this is what it does, this is how it looks,” said Eden. Eden said their plan is to have an expert teach faculty and staff how to utilize the farm.
Source: KSNF/KODE