St. Luke's Hospital

Carrie Willis ran a COVID ward at St. Luke’s East Hospital in 2020 and 2021. Five years after Kansas City began restricting gatherings and ordering people to stay at home, Willis says health care — and her life — will never be the same.

The Palestinian American Medical Association, founded in Kansas City in 2013, works to ensure Palestinians have access to the health care they need. Since the current war began last year, their work has become even more critical.

All 12 of the patients Children's Mercy took in from the Chiefs parade shooting have gone home. There are still three shooting victims in stable condition and one in critical condition hospitalized in Kansas City.

BJC Healthcare has formally closed the deal that merges the St. Louis-based company with Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, officials announced Monday. The $10 billion merger creates a system that comprises 28 hospitals across Kansas, Illinois and Missouri.

The CDC reported this month that only 17% of adults and 7% of children have received the updated COVID vaccine, which targets more recent coronavirus strains. But it’s never too late to get boosted, especially if you're hopping on a plane for Christmas break.

St. Luke's, a Kansas City-based health system that operates 14 hospitals in Kansas and Missouri, has finalized plans to merge with BJC Healthcare in St. Louis. The two systems expect to complete the $10 billion deal by Jan. 1.

Hospital systems are merging in deals bring facilities hundreds of miles apart under the same parent company, like St. Luke's and BJC HealthCare. That typically means higher prices for the patients they serve — but federal regulators haven't stepped in to stop consolidation.

Two of the largest health systems in Missouri earlier this year announced plans for a $10 billion merger. Experts said that won't necessarily benefit patients when it comes to prices and quality of care.

The doctors, surgeons and psychologists of the Kansas City metro often see the worst parts of the area's growing problem with gun violence. Several of them are attempting to better prepare the medical students who work alongside them for the reality of dealing with this public health crisis on a day-to-day basis.

During heart health awareness month, a cardiologist shares what's known about SCAD, a condition that led one woman to suffer three cardiac events in three years. It's the leading cause of heart attacks in women under 50.

Once considered predominantly a men's disease, heart disease kills more women each year than cancer. One Kansas City doctor says that men and women are mistakenly prescribe different preventative treatment regimens.

COVID-19, RSV and the flu cases are filling up emergency rooms in the metropolitan area. Many area hospitals are at capacity, with some even putting beds in the hallways. All of this is overwhelming nurses already stretched thin.