Patient story

Wade Talley, Centralia K-12 principal, is pictured here with his beautiful family. He recently took his provider's advice and had a colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer. Wade agreed to share his experience. Here's what he said.

"I'm 46. Dr. Weiser said I should do it. I had a clean bill from the screening."

"We've had teachers here who have been directly affected by [colon cancer]. For me, it wasn't about me, but I have kids and a...

Olivia Hoffman is only 19 years old, but she’s already had a colonoscopy. Screening for colorectal cancer doesn’t usually begin until age 45, but because an older sister experienced some health problems and a colonoscopy revealed multiple polyps, the rest of the family was advised to get checked out.

Olivia and other family members came to Community HealthCare System in Onaga. Olivia said her colonoscopy was easier than she thought it was going to be.

“Everyone...

Hallie Beardsley was 42. She was a busy single mom to her two kids, and although she knew she needed to get a mammogram, she says she just “hadn’t gotten around to it.”

She’s glad she finally made the time, because the mammogram revealed a large mass that proved to be a rare type of breast cancer. Beardsley said she “completely lost it and thought it was a death sentence,” but her CHCS provider, Physician Assistant Jeremy Brandt, and...

If you visit the Onaga Rehabilitation and Fitness Center on weekdays during the lunch hour, you’re likely to see Bob Avery hard at work on the weight machines. He travels to the Fitness Center several times a week from his home near Olsburg to do strengthening exercises, and he sees a physical therapist once a week. He’s come a long way since a harrowing accident nearly five years ago left him with a partial spinal cord injury.

Avery, a lifelong rancher who...

Betty Fairchild is back in the saddle at age 97, and Community HealthCare System’s Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Program helped her get there.

After an aortic valve replacement, fatigue and shortness of breath kept Fairchild, who lives four miles outside of Frankfort, from the active lifestyle she had always enjoyed.  She was referred to CHCS Cardiopulmonary Rehab by her cardiac surgeon, Dr. Muehlebach, from the University of Kansas Health System. Fairchild...

CHCS received the following email from a patient's daughter who shared her experience. What a wonderful tale she tells of the care her mother has received from our caring staff! We thank her for taking time to write and for giving us permission to share her comments. 

Hello,

My name is Laurie Moody, and I am the daughter of Oleta Curtis, a patient at your clinic who is treated by both Dr. Allen and Dr. Heredia. I recently moved back to the area...

Annie Crumbaker’s daughter Emmy is five months old. Crumbaker smiles when she talks about her, and you can hear the pride in her voice when she describes her: “She’s such a happy baby,” said the proud mom. (Baby Emmy is pictured above in the arms of her dad, Kyle.) 

Crumbaker was not all smiles the day Emmy was born. Although she anticipated an uncomplicated birth like those of her other three children, Crumbaker’s labor did not progress as expected,...

When you’re a parent, you know what it feels like to worry. You wonder if your child is eating or sleeping enough, or if you are making the right decisions. You worry about teaching them the right things. You also might wonder about developmental milestones: Is your baby rolling over or crawling on time? Interacting with you enough? Saying enough words?

If you have worries, talk to your healthcare provider. Pediatric speech therapy is available for children who...

No matter what kind of person you picture when you think “heart attack,” Bob Garcia probably doesn’t fit the mold.

A retired postmaster and longtime referee for high school football and basketball, Garcia was in the habit of running 25-30 miles a week and lifting weights regularly. He was preparing to run a St. Patrick’s Day 10K when he felt a slight pain in the middle of his chest for about three minutes. He dismissed it as acid reflux and did...

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men and women in the United States, and 25 to 30% of colorectal cancer patients have a family history of the disease according to FightCRC.

That was enough to convince Gary Sorensen, a patient of Dr. David Allen at Community HealthCare System, to start getting regular colonoscopies when he was in his late 40s.

“My dad had colon cancer, and it was detected in his 50s. My dad’s brother and his father...