Preventative care drives Gardner nurse

Keeping watch on heart, stroke and diabetes patients in ICU motivated Angela Rupp, ARNP, to change the course of her career.

“I wanted to do more,” said Rupp, nurse practitioner at Gardner Family Care in Gardner, Kan. “Why couldn’t somebody help them more; do something preventative?”

Research students discuss policy

Nurses’ care for patients extends beyond the bedside when they engage in research and learn about government policy.

Research School of Nursing students heard this message during the college’s annual Scholarship Day.

Event benefits St. Luke’s heart health

Books & Boutiques, an annual luncheon event benefiting the St. Luke’s South Women’s Heart Health program, featured New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Berg and more than a dozen locally owned boutiques April 22 at the Overland Park Convention Center.

Kathy Howell, St. Luke’s South president and chief executive officer, said the program provides women access to cardiovascular care; education; rehabilitation; services including risk assessments such as lipid profile, blood sugar, thyroid function; and empowers women to be proactive.

Hospital promotes A Change of Heart

At 60 years old, Janet Herren, Mission, Kan., appears to be in great shape, but after her brother suffered a heart attack, she underwent A Change of Heart.

The University of Kansas developed the Change of Heart program to raise awareness, provide assessments and encourage advocacy about heart health.

Pharmacists weigh in on health reform law

In the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” Mr. Robinson had a simple but prophetic piece of advice for college graduate Benjamin Braddock: “plastics.”

Now, with the approaching retirement of the nation’s baby boomers coupled with the new health care reform legislation, the product of the future has gone from plastics to pharmaceuticals.

Seniors may see health care benefits

Many Johnson County senior citizens are concerned about how the health care bill will affect them.

Dan Goodman, director of Johnson County’s Area Agency on Aging, understands and shares those concerns, but said aspects of the law might be good for seniors.