Erin Wisdom
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008
Home sick
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Therapy provides a dose of hope
Monday, Nov. 17, 2008
How to choose a church
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008
Little things
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008
A raffle to help a cancer patient? It just makes good horse sense
Monday, Nov. 10, 2008
Odd jobs
Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008
Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008
Cutting the cost of convenience
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008
A silent statement
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
A thousand sit-ups and counting
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
Building on a boy’s dream
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008
I’ll take health care for 500, Alex
Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008
Wide awake
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008
Hoping for a life with no more needle pricks
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008
Praying for the ability to walk
Monday, Oct. 13, 2008
Putting broken hearts back together
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008
For the health of it
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Waves of light
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Group raising autism awareness
Friday, Oct. 3, 2008
Cycling for a cause
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Monday, Sept. 29, 2008
Enjoying the journey
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008
Bringing Christians together
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Putting names to an epidemic
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008
Communicating care
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Reaching out to offer H.O.P.E.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008
St. Joseph’s Social Welfare Board has found a way to save several thousand dollars a month and expedite patients’ access to prescription drugs in the process.
It’s done this by enrolling in AZ&Me Prescription Savings program, which the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced will provide medicines free of charge to free clinics, community health centers, hospitals and other qualifying facilities that serve the uninsured. This allows patients to receive the medicines they need the day they are prescribed, rather than having to wait several weeks as paperwork is processed.
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008
It’s the kind of interview that doesn’t come around every day.
Thomas Beatie, who is perhaps better known as “the pregnant man,” appeared on Larry King Live on Monday with his wife, Nancy, to promote his book, “Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy.” Beatie gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Susan, in July and is now expecting again.
Of course, this raises all kinds of questions. But the most obvious for me is one that King didn’t ask.
Home sick
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Being sick is no fun.
Or is it? As much as you might bemoan the cold or flu that keeps you stuck at home, you have to admit: Enduring sniffles, a sore throat or even an upset stomach at least gives you an excuse to be lazy. And assuming this is an excuse that comes your way only rarely, you might even enjoy it a bit.
But if you don’t, maybe these pointers for making the most of your “home sick” time will help.
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Healthcare notes for Nov. 18, 2008
Therapy provides a dose of hope
Monday, Nov. 17, 2008
It didn’t seem like a lot to ask for, but now that she has it, it seems like the whole world. After more than six months in a wheelchair, Debbie Pullen has been given a fighting shot at standing on her own two feet again. The 48-year-old Gallatin, Mo., woman developed Guillain-Barré syndrome as a result of having the flu last spring. She began undergoing physical and occupational therapy at Heartland Regional Medical Center earlier this month. This long-hoped-for opportunity has definitely put a spring in her step, so to speak.
How to choose a church
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
One thing’s for certain: St. Joseph is not short on churches. And while variety often is a good thing, having so many churches to choose from might make it difficult to decide which one to belong to. To aid in the process, several St. Joseph pastors offer some tips.
Baby's first blogWednesday, Nov. 12, 2008
Welcome to my blog, Words of Wisdom. Quite a name, huh? Maybe one that sounds pretentious or that promises a level of understanding about life that I, at 24, might be a little limited to deliver. But given that Wisdom is my name, I really couldn’t call it anything else.
Little things
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008
Instead of beating, Cole Henggeler’s heart makes a “swish.”
It’s a big difference caused by a small hole, which was caused by Cole being born with one too many 21st chromosomes. The fact that something as small as a single chromosome can make such a big difference in Cole and other children with Down syndrome is a testament to how much the little things in life matter — and no one knows this better than Cole’s mother, Carrie Henggeler.
A raffle to help a cancer patient? It just makes good horse sense
Monday, Nov. 10, 2008
Spirit is a beautiful black horse. But for Mary Wellington, he’s also a source of hope.
Ms. Wellington, who manages Casey’s General Store in Wathena, Kan., found out just what loyal customers the store has when some arranged to raffle Spirit to help Ms. Wellington as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer. Heather Robinson of Troy, Kan., is the one who spurred the raffle.
“When she told me about it, I had a line of people and I just didn’t know what to say,” said Ms. Wellington, who lived in St. Joseph until two years ago. “These small towns are just wonderful at taking care of people.”
Odd jobs
Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008
It’s no secret the economy is on many minds right now.
But what may not be as well known, even with phrases like “job creation” being bantered about, are the details of some of society’s lesser-known professions. Who ever thinks, for example, about the people paid to write the bits of wisdom concealed inside fortune cookies? Or about the brave souls who sample pet foods produced by companies that don’t test on animals?
The list goes on and on, even in a city like St. Joseph that likely doesn’t contain many of the world’s weirdest jobs. But what we lack in crocodile wranglers and snake milkers, maybe we make up for in other jobs that still are somewhat well-kept secrets.
Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008
It’s been said there was no such thing as the teenager before World War II. There were children on their way to becoming adults, of course, but they weren’t seen as a separate class of people — which may be why the church didn’t see a need to target them differently than it did anyone else. But that changed in the 1940s with the origination of organizations like Youth for Christ, which featured as one of its evangelists the Rev. Billy Graham.
Cutting the cost of convenience
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008
Goldie Proffer socialized while she shoe shopped on Thursday, browsing a display of boots with her cell phone against her ear.
It’s been 25 years now that cell phones have enabled activity like this, but for some people — including Ms. Proffer — the convenience has come at a cost.
“One day, I was talking on the phone and it made a loud ‘pop’ in my ear,” she said. “My hearing hasn’t been the same since.”
Ms. Proffer isn’t the only person to experience hearing loss due to cell phone use, according to a study released last year. Other health and safety threats have been attributed to the devices, as well — but even for some of the more serious ones, there are measures people can take to protect themselves.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008
Health briefs for Nov. 4, 2008
A silent statement
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008
Small white crosses line the front lawn of St. James Catholic Church.
At first glance, it might look like a graveyard. This isn’t the intent, but it’s fitting in that the display seeks to portray the number of lives ended by abortion since the procedure became legal in 1973: one million for each of the 48 crosses standing in front of St. James, 5814 King Hill Ave. in St. Joseph.
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008
Religion in brief for Nov. 1, 2008
Healthcare notes for Oct. 28, 2008Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
Healthcare notes for Oct. 28, 2008
A thousand sit-ups and counting
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
Training athletes is nothing new to Bob Boyles.
The certified strength and conditioning specialist, who owns Body Image Personal Training at 5521 Claremont St., for years was the strength and conditioning coach at Missouri Western State University. But even with all this experience, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago he witnessed someone do 1,500 sit-ups straight.
This someone isn’t a star athlete you’ll see on the football field or basketball court. Rather, she is Kaitlin Ericson, a soon-to-be freshman at Missouri Western — and she isn’t alone in her ability to demonstrate an unusual amount of endurance. Danielle Venable, another of Mr. Boyles’ clients, has totaled 1,082 sit-ups in a competition she and Ms. Ericson began several months ago and that has also come to include “events” such as hanging abdominal exercises and squats.
Building on a boy’s dream
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008
The cross is rugged and tall, stretching 22 feet toward the sky.
It went up Sept. 21, exactly one month after Mackintyre Kindol McDill-Garton’s 9th birthday. And it was the perfect gift.
Never mind that Mackintyre has an entire farm full of toys, including some — like the 1992 Saturn he’s not allowed to drive beyond his front yard — that he hasn’t quite grown into. He has a four-wheeler just his size and a dolly to pull behind it. He has a cabin he wired himself with electricity and cable. He has an old tractor waiting for winter, when his dad and grandpa will restore it with him.
Or at least that was the plan until about a week before the cross went up — until Sept. 12, when Mackintyre woke with a headache and died minutes later.
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008
Heartland Regional Medical Center celebrated National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a big way Wednesday with the grand opening of its breast center.
The center, located in the hospital’s Plaza 1, cost $3.1 million, although some of this went toward new digital mammography equipment in the women’s health portion of the hospital. The breast center contains this cutting-edge technology, as well, and is designed to both streamline the treatment process for breast cancer patients and to make it less intimidating. In addition, having services centrally located will reduce from weeks to days the time from when a woman receives an abnormal mammogram until she learns whether she has cancer.
I’ll take health care for 500, Alex
Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008
In the hallways and offices of Homeward Bound Health Services, Alex Trebek isn’t anywhere in sight.
But Jeopardy — the game show that has made Mr. Trebek a household name — has definitely made its mark on the business, which is located at 3501 Gene Field Road and provides in-home medical care and other services to people who might otherwise have to move into a nursing home.
The game has made its mark so much, in fact, that a Jeopardy-style board Administrator Lynn Stoll-Weaver can collapse and carry with her has become key to training employees.
Wide awake
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
The Rev. Jared Hamilton knows all about sleepless nights.
And although it may not exactly be acceptable for an interim pastor to fall asleep during a Sunday school class, he knows all about that, too.
Fortunately for him, this faux pas didn’t keep First Baptist Church from offering him a full-time pastoral position three months ago, after he’d spent several months filling the pulpit on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
Religion in brief for Oct. 18, 2008
Health Department offers free flu shots todayWednesday, Oct. 15, 2008
It’s that time of year again.
Time to prepare for flu season, that is. The flu already has hit the East Coast and is expected to be here by the end of the month, according to Connie Bonebrake, the nursing coordinator at the St. Joseph-Buchanan County Health Department.
“From everything we’ve heard so far, it’s making people very sick,” she said.
Hoping for a life with no more needle pricks
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008
Hadley Douglas holds up her pincushion fingers, spotted red from day after day of needle pricks. When her mom pokes her once again to draw blood for a reading, Hadley doesn’t even flinch.
Her blood sugar is normal; she doesn’t need any insulin. Unless she wants the package of cookies that sits in front of her, that is. Carefully examining the wrapper, Hadley identifies the number of carbohydrates in the snack and keys it into her insulin pump, then tears away the paper and starts chowing down.
After two years, this process of poking and injecting, reading and carefully counting is as common to her as breathing. At only 7, maybe it seems like life has always been this way.
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008
Healthcare notes for Oct. 14, 2008
Praying for the ability to walk
Monday, Oct. 13, 2008
Usually, finding yourself all of a sudden unable to walk is something that happens only in nightmares. Maybe that’s why Debbie Pullen feels like she’s in one. The 48-year-old Gallatin, Mo., woman has been in a wheelchair for six months now, ever since the April day her legs stopped working. She’d had the flu, and her doctor assured her the weakness she was experiencing was from that.
Putting broken hearts back together
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008
Reading the woman by her devastation, it was obvious her divorce was recent.
That’s what Judy Johnson thought, anyway, until she learned otherwise. The woman actually had been divorced 25 years — a complete quarter of a century. But despite the well-known saying, time clearly hadn’t healed all her wounds.
Of course, if time alone were enough, Mrs. Johnson and her husband, Bob, would not have felt led to begin leading a divorce- and relationship-recovery class at Riverside Church in St. Joseph about a decade ago to help people heal from marriages and other significant relationships that have fallen apart. Having both been through divorce before meeting each other — her once, him twice — the Johnsons know well the pain that comes with it.
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008
Relgion in brief for Oct. 11, 2008
Local churches hit the streetsThursday, Oct. 9, 2008
Sunday morning, church sanctuaries throughout the country will be empty.
This phenomenon will come not due to a crisis of faith but rather because church members will be putting their faith into action in their communities.
For the health of it
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
A long siege of rain inspired the bright, rich blues that give way to gray in Idy Youngblood’s abstract painting “Rainy Day Blues.”
These blues light a wall near the entrance to the emergency room at Heartland Regional Medical Center, ready to lift spirits as part of the hospital’s “Art for the Health of It” exhibit. This exhibit, which features the work of local artists, opens today and will remain on display through Dec. 3.
“It’s a chance to make the community aware of art,” says Ms. Youngblood, a member of Gallery 7 in St. Joseph. “And I think it does have therapeutic value, both for the artist and the viewer.”
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
Healthcare notes for Oct. 7, 2008
Briefs for Oct. 4, 2008Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Briefs for Oct. 4, 2008
Waves of light
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
At Kephart’s Clock Restoration in St. Joseph, more marks the hour than the timepieces.
There’s also the radio station that’s on all the time, breaking the day into segments of Bible teaching and Christian songs and other programming that help David Kephart keep his focus where he wants it to be.
“The music they play is positive, and it’s not stale gospel music; it’s relevant to today,” he says. “But most important is that they teach what the Bible says, straightforward and undiluted and without a spin.”
The “they” to which he refers is Horizon Broadcast Network. Its flagship station, located in downtown St. Joseph, is KSRD 91.9 FM, and it also plays on 16 other full-power stations and 160 translators located in other states. Although the station itself is not new, what is fairly new is KSRD’s status as Horizon Broadcast Network’s headquarters — a position it took on in February and that now is requiring extensive renovations to its studio, located in the Calvary Chapel administration building at 1212 Faraon St.
Group raising autism awareness
Friday, Oct. 3, 2008
When he was 3, Tanner Bachman stopped telling his mom to tie his shoes. He stopped saying “I love you,” stopped waving, stopped making eye contact. His parents thought he was deaf. It was 1997, and autism had not yet become a household word.
Cycling for a cause
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Move over, Lance Armstrong. You might have some competition.
That competition comes in the form of Kelly Manring, a dietician with DaVita St. Joseph Dialysis who last week rode in the second annual, 250-mile Tour DaVita bicycle ride, which DaVita sponsors to raise money for the Kidney TRUST, an independent public charity that fights chronic kidney disease and promotes awareness of it.
One in 11 American adults has the disease, according to the Kidney TRUST, and the people most at risk for it include those with diabetes or high blood pressure, those who are African American, Hispanic or Native American, those who are older than age 60 and those who smoke. Once the disease reduces kidney function significantly, patients often must resort to dialysis treatments.
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Healthcare notes for Sept. 30, 2008
Health executive returns to rootsMonday, Sept. 29, 2008
Several generations after his great-grandfather began the first hospital in Braymer, Mo., Ben Ernst is continuing his family’s legacy of providing health care in Northwest Missouri — although his approach is slightly different than that of his ancestor.
Enjoying the journey
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
It began as the weekend when everything went wrong.
The fact that nothing went according to plan really is saying something, considering that the main plan had been not to plan at all. Or at least not to plan beyond the point of throwing a dart at the Missouri map in my best friend’s atlas and going with her to wherever it landed. This “dart trip” concept is one I read about several years ago and have wanted to try ever since, and Katie was in as soon as I suggested it.
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008
Last year, the teacher’s lounge at Edison Elementary School was looking a little drab.
Then St. Joe Serve stepped in with some paint, curtains and other touches to make the space much more welcoming. But the ministry also left its mark on more than the lounge.
“It impressed me that they didn’t know me, but they took time to step out and serve my school anyway,” says Jennifer Patterson, Edison’s principal. “They were like, ‘We’re just here to serve you, not to preach.’”
The impact it had on her serves as a snapshot of what St. Joe Serve — which is a partnership of 13 St. Joseph churches and will be holding its annual project day Oct. 12 — hopes to accomplish. The ministry began when the Rev. Bob Miller, pastor of Wellspring Community Church, and the Rev. Micah Fries, pastor of Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, set out to find a way to build trust with people in the community.
Bringing Christians together
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
The rain stopped just in time.
After hours of thunder and lightning, the storm ended shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, when about 20 Benton High School students gathered around the school’s flagpole.
Putting names to an epidemic
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Gardening gloves and swimming goggles might never have meant more.
More than they do on the piece of fabric, that is, where they serve as a reminder of James Miller Cleeton. They tell about one of his favorite pastimes and about him trying to teach his sister to be an Olympic swimmer — a goal she never quite accomplished, but she did sew a memory of his efforts to this quilt panel, a panel that measures 3 feet by 6 feet, the size of a grave.
It’s part of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and, like a gravestone, it includes the date of his birth and the date of his death. He died in 1991 at just 44 years old, and when a portion of the AIDS quilt came to St. Joseph in 1995, his family created this panel in his honor.
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Healthcare notes for Sept. 23, 2008
Religion in brief for Sept. 20, 2008Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008
Religion in brief for Sept. 20, 2008
Cut-A-Thon will give donors free ’dosSaturday, Sept. 20, 2008
A Savannah, Mo., salon is offering free haircuts and an opportunity to help others — all at the same time.
Blood center requesting donations to replenish supplyThursday, Sept. 18, 2008
Community Blood Center is seeking donations to replenish its blood reserve, which has dipped to only about half a day’s supply of O-positive.
Communicating care
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
The Rev. Richard Dierkes was a natural-born priest. He played Mass as a little boy, then grew up to become someone who — in addition to being able to lead Mass for real — was described as having an extraordinary closeness with God and a true servant’s heart.
He also was someone who was very sick sometimes.
A blood disorder diagnosed many years ago became leukemia early this year, and doctors advised him that a bone marrow transplant would be his best course of treatment. Because he also needed a kidney transplant, they referred him to the University of Chicago Hospital, which has experience doing bone marrow transplants on patients with kidney failure.
Chicago, of course, is a long way from St. Joseph, where Father Rick (as many called him) had for years served as the pastor at Cathedral of St. Joseph. And keeping in touch with all his friends and family while undergoing the rigors of his treatment wouldn’t be easy — not without some help, at least.
Fortunately, help is exactly what he found in CarePages, a Web site that allows patients to set up free accounts and post updates on their conditions, as well as to receive messages from the people who receive e-mail notifications of the updates and then go to the Web site to read them.
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
Healthcare notes for Sept. 16, 2008
Fairfax hospital moving alongSunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Community Hospital in Fairfax, Mo., is one step closer to its new facility.
Reaching out to offer H.O.P.E.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008
God gave Noah a rainbow. He gave the wise men a star. And both these signs serve as answers — specifically, answers illustrated by pictures on Connie Sue Ferguson’s Bible Jingo card.
Amber Faulkner points to the pictures, helping Ms. Ferguson find where a lime green circle or hot pink heart needs to go. And she keeps calling out answers to questions asked in the Bingo-based game, hardly ever missing a beat. She is, after all, kind of a veteran at it by now.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008
Religion in brief for Sept. 13
