rural health

A University of Kansas Cancer Center bus retrofitted to serve as a clinic is headed out to cover rural communities in Kansas and western Missouri that don't have easy access to cancer screenings.

Rural communities across Kansas are losing their grocery stores, and small towns are coming up with new ways to revive them. But some of those solutions have not panned out.

Rural communities have been turning to nonprofits and other strategies to keep grocery stores open. But one of those new stores is closing in Kansas, which shows how challenging it can be to provide food in small towns.

Sedalia's newest effort to help its most vulnerable residents appears to be a win: a building with the area’s most crucial social service providers all under one roof, available throughout the week on a walk-in basis. It's part of a Missouri pilot program to better serve rural communities.

The wind energy industry has slowed across the country, but some Kansas towns want to invest in it for economic growth. We’ll hear about the push for renewable energy in rural Kansas — and the obstacles it faces. Plus: Hear why support for 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, is stronger in some states than in others.

According to recent data from medical records, Nebraska and Kansas have the highest rates of Parkinson’s disease diagnoses. Groups in Kansas are helping people with Parkinson’s slow the progression of the disease through activities including exercise and art classes.

The Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, a national policy organization, found 68 rural Kansas hospitals are at risk of closing, including 30 at immediate risk. Revenue isn’t keeping up with costs.

Missouri received the ninth-largest award of any state from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, part of the GOP spending law passed by Congress over the summer. But it still amounts to less than a third of what rural areas will lose from reduced Medicaid spending.

Who was held accountable for the hazardous powder left near the town of Berger, Missouri? Cleaning up the Superfund site cost more than $4.2 million.

Children, homeless people and even city officials entered the building in Berger, Missouri, unaware they were inhaling toxic dust.

Rider demand is up in many communities, but there’s a gap between what the Nebraska Department of Transportation can fund and the growing needs of transit agencies around the state.

In rural Medicine Lodge, Kansas, Sarrah and Kyle Miller were sued last month by their local medical clinic for $230 in unpaid medical expenses. Their story is part of a new pattern. Kansas hospitals have filed thousands of lawsuits against their rural patients in recent years, including many for less than $500.