parenting

Teenagers face many challenges, and all too often, those challenges cause mental health problems. Parents frequently don’t recognize the warning signs or know how to intervene. A presentation from Children’s Mercy can prepare parents to help teens address problems.

Community HealthCare System is joining with Children’s Mercy Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Shayla Sullivant to bring “Prepped and Ready: Parenting into the Teen Years”...

By Ashley Edelman, speech therapist: COVID-19 has undoubtedly caused many difficulties for families this past year. Children in our surrounding communities are also facing many new challenges. Quarantines, remote learning, COVID-related illness, and general disruptions to routine ways of living have taken a toll. 

Children are dealing with increased social isolation from peers and family members and disruptions to everyday school routines, which puts them at risk for loss of language...

When babies are born, time is of the essence to screen for problems that could cause developmental disability or severe illness.

The Kansas Newborn Screening Program, a collaboration between public health, hospitals, providers, and the parents of newborns, has provided essential screenings at no cost to families since 1965. Community HealthCare System, or CHCS, is among the Kansas hospitals being recognized for meeting or exceeding screening goals.

Required screenings include...

As COVID-19 has spread, the world has seen what happens when a disease has no vaccine. Researchers and drug developers are working hard to make sure that changes soon, but in the meantime, we should not forget that many other diseases are preventable through vaccines. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, so it’s a perfect time to make sure your family’s immunizations are up-to-date.

Immunizations are important because they reduce diseases that result in illness...

UPDATE, March 25: This event is postponed so we can focus on COVID-19. We will reschedule as soon as we are able! Thank you for your understanding. 

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 25, and join Community HealthCare System for a day dedicated to the health of you and your family. Our Health Fair starts early at Onaga Community Hospital with affordable labs and a variety of educational booths and activities.

Whether you’re 18 or 85, regular screenings are important...

If you ask a classroom full of local students from 5th through 12th grade if they vape or know someone who vapes, nearly all of the kids will raise their hands.

That’s what Merica Surdez, advanced practice registered nurse at Community HealthCare System, found when she decided to help area schools teach students about the dangers of e-cigarettes.

Vaping uses an e-cigarette, a battery-powered device that comes in many shapes and sizes, to heat up a liquid to create an...